


Don't Tempt Me

by hrmdream



Category: Pitch Perfect (Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe, F/F, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-06
Updated: 2020-11-22
Packaged: 2021-03-06 22:08:59
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 33,283
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26316223
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hrmdream/pseuds/hrmdream
Summary: Chloe Beale is a newly hired publicist for a rising independent NYC record label. The label's top producer and star artist is one Beca Mitchell who is so reserved the HR manager has a running office bet to see who can unravel her. Chloe might just want to step up to the plate.
Relationships: Chloe Beale & Beca Mitchell, Chloe Beale/Beca Mitchell
Comments: 101
Kudos: 296





	1. Welcome to Barden Records

**Author's Note:**

> Oh hi there! It's been a decade since I've written a fic. Even when I did, it was for a different fandom. I just couldn't help myself getting swept up in all things Bechloe again with the 'Love on Top' Bellas release though. This is my first step into the Pitch Perfect world, but I will try to re-create the persona of our favorite girls as best I can. The fics here are amazing BTW! Hope I'm not accidentally re-creating something that already exists.
> 
> None of this work has been beta'd. Please bear with me... 
> 
> and rated M for fun down the line ;)

The hum of a sweet melody flowed through the small New York City apartment from its kitchen. Steady sounds of a city waking up outside leaked into the private space via its windows, but could not be heard by Chloe Beale.

Chloe was basking with her back turned to the morning sun bursting through the un-blinded kitchen window. Headphones in her ears, small smile gently placed on her lips, and hands diligently spreading jam on a slice of toast - Chloe was full stride in her morning routine and humming along. 

Good music, sweet food, and warmth on her back was exactly what Chloe needed to start the day on sure footing. They were the recipe to quelling her nerves from last night regarding today being the day she would be starting her new job. All nerve wracking concerns had been washed away, or at least set aside, in major part by the upbeat electronic bass beat pumping in her ears. 

_“Not saying I’m some genius, but I’m smart enough to know I’m worth fighting for~”_

Chloe softly sang the chorus of the song filling her ears. She twisted on the cap of the jar of strawberry jam she had been using. Head nodding, she walked to her pantry and placed the jar away. 

“Ready to go?” Aubrey, Chloe’s roommate and best friend, spoke loudly into the kitchen space, grabbing the redhead’s attention. 

“Yes, let’s do it!” The response was a little louder than conversational volume. 

Chloe grabbed her toast and did a quick one-handed smooth down of her white blouse, further tucking it into her black skirt, before she walked to the front door. She took bites from her toast on her way. Head endlessly bobbing to the music in her ears, Chloe didn’t hear the ‘click’ of her heels crossing the wooden floor. They almost matched the same beat as the one playing in her ears.

Aubrey smiled seeing the rhythm practically oozing from her best friend as they exited their apartment. She was glad to see the nervous mess she was consoling from last night had been replaced by a bass thumping ball of sunshine. 

For as long as they had been friends, Aubrey had enough experiences under her belt of seeing how music had a way of commanding Chloe’s mood. The redhead’s mood and energy could easily be brought to explosion or dip from a simple changing of a song.

The two women exited their apartment building and walked the three blocks to the nearest subway entrance. Throughout the journey, the best friends kept their arms hooked. The physical connection ensured the two stayed side-by-side despite both being lost within their own morning commute soundtracks.

\---

“Hi there!”

Chloe’s eyebrows raised in amusement, but also as a reaction to soak in all the energy bursting from the young brunette standing before her.

“My name is Emily.” The ecstatic greeting was given with the widest of smiles, and garnered a smile from Chloe in return. 

“So your Aubrey’s friend whom she referred for the job, huh? Aubrey, you are _such_ a great friend.” Emily directed the compliment towards the blonde standing nearby. “Feel free to go on about your day. I can take Chloe from here. I promise she will be taken care of.” Emily smiled and winked.

“Alright then,” Aubrey smiled back at Emily. She quickly grabbed Chloe’s hands and gave them a tight squeeze. “You’re in good hands. I’ll be back later to go through some paperwork with you. See you later, Chloe!” Aubrey’s shoulders shrugged in contained excitement before turning and walked further into the office. 

Chloe’s eyes followed her friend, soaking in the impressive glossy wood floor covering the entirety of the vast office floor plan. Her eyes traced large panes of glass and metal supports within the tall, wide building. At the right side of the office, Chloe spotted the only thing intruding on the open air and cutting into the almost boundless space - a wide metal staircase attached to a second floor loft area.

The office before her was expansive - held within the red brick skeleton of a large abandoned and reworked fire station. Translucent glass walls were used to section areas into what Chloe deemed to likely be meeting room spaces - though there were not many. More attractive to her eye were collected pieces of plush and colorful furniture spread throughout the office. They were gathered in purposefully designated lounge areas. The splashes of vibrant paintings and photographs lining the walls added to the notion that this was a modern, laidback and creative safe space.

Chloe turned back to Emily. She took a deep breath to calm her nerves. “I’m all yours.” she grinned excitedly.

Emily’s hands clasped together in front of her. “Great! Let me grace you with a tour of our humble abode.”

“This goes without saying, but welcome to Barden Records!” Emily threw her hands out wide. “We are currently the third largest, but most certainly _the_ best, local and independent record label in New York City. Evident with you, among others, joining our ranks, we are ever growing.” Emily led Chloe past the front desk she had greeted Chloe from. 

“As you know, the captain of our ship is Jesse Swanson. He inherited the company from his uncle - Drew Barden. Because of him, we are huge fans of the creative office vibe. So even though you will be having a designated desk, most people opt to work in the collaborative spaces.” Emily pointed out some of the lounge-looking areas of the office Chloe had taken earlier note of. “We have round tables for face-to-face communication, bean bag zones, and of course the war room table upstairs.” 

Emily pointed toward the second floor loft area on their right. With only a metal railing sectioning the space off from the rest of the high open air, Chloe could make out some large pieces of furniture on the platform raised above their head.

“If you ever feel like you’re in a funk, there’s a game room to vent your frustrations in the back. We have ping pong, an arcade basketball shoot-out machine, and some other arcade games. You can play on your own time, but also highly encouraged to ask anyone for a friendly match!” 

Keeping in step with Emily, Chloe nodded her head. Her face was held in awe as they passed the game room, which looked very much like a shrunken down Dave & Busters.

“On the other end of the spectrum for de-stressing, we have a nap nook slash therapy quiet room. Once we get you logged in to your laptop and e-mail access, you will be able to reserve time on the calendar for it.”

Emily motioned for Chloe to follow her through an archway. They had exited what Chloe guessed was originally the garage of the firehouse - gutted and renovated of course. 

Now they were walking red brick-lined hallways. The space here was much tighter. Chloe was no longer walking side by side with Emily. Now she was simply following as Emily led them to bathrooms (fully equipped with lockers and shower stalls), a gym, a kitchen, and past a small collection of offices - one of which was Aubrey’s. 

Aubrey was on the phone, but at the sight of her best friend threw Chloe a thumbs up with an enthusiastic grin when she and Emily passed by. 

“You’ll find that the back offices are used mainly by the department heads. Since their private offices are back here, it’s just easier for them. Everyone else tends to stick to this front area.” Emily explained. 

Walking back into the front, open area of the office, Chloe saw that people had trickled in and were beginning their day. 

“Upstairs is where we have what is called the ‘War Room Table’. There is also a large sitting area with a TV. We hold our quarterly all-hands meetings and celebration events up there. So obviously, being up there is for serious business only.” Emily finished her statement with a wink, before adding, “Well, serious business outside of the ‘Bullpen’ anyways.” 

The young brunette motioned her hand towards a large space on the ground floor walled off by large panes of translucent glass beneath the loft. Instead of a long table to congregate around as what is found in most large meeting rooms, there were three desks. Each one in front of, or rather placed within, areas populated with distinctly different decorations.

There were two people Chloe could make out sitting at the desks in the room. A brown, wavy haired man dressed in a grey sweater and tan slacks sat in what Chloe could see was a fairly organized desk. Behind him were shelves filled with DVDs and framed photographs. The empty desk next to him was drenched in Star Wars memorabilia. The owner of that desk, seemingly not present.

On the opposing wall, Chloe could barely make out the silhouette of a person, a woman it looked like, mostly hidden from Chloe’s view as she was sitting behind a large, wide computer monitor centered on the desk. Beside the monstrous screen, the desk was littered with colorfully lit devices. All of which were rhythmically pulsing to different patterns of a beat Chloe could not hear. 

Chloe could also make out a keyboard, guitar and electric guitar placed around the woman’s space.

In the unclaimed area of the room, closest to its entrance, was a large plush couch, low coffee table, and bean bag cushions.

“Unofficial official business happens in the ‘Bullpen’.” Emily finished with a nod of finality and the wave of her hand. 

“And looks like we did the tour in good time. You are almost all set to start your first official day!” Emily grinned excitedly.

Chloe smiled as she swept her eyes around the office. She caught sight of the multitude of people taking off coats, unpacking laptops from backpacks, or standing by desks and greeting others. The earlier peace and quiet of the office was replaced with conversation and noise. Chloe could even make out the hints of music being played from an open laptop placed on a meeting desk nearby.

“Anyway, this is your desk and it looks like Benji is on his way over now with your laptop. I never have to ask him twice, that one.” There was the slightest sigh of admiration in her voice as Emily threw an affectionate smile toward the guy with sandy brown hair approaching them.

“Hi there, I’m Benji.” 

There was a light _‘thud’_ as a box containing a Macintosh was placed on Chloe’s desk. Benji held out his hand for Chloe to grasp. 

“Hello, I’m Chloe!” she greeted, placing her hand in his.

“Good morning, babe.” Emily quickly leaned in to place a quick kiss on his cheek. As she did so, a slight blush spread. 

“Morning,” he responded - a slight duck to his head. 

“Benji will help you with your set-up, so I’ll just go quickly grab your welcome swag. Have fun!” the brunette called over her shoulder.

\---

After about an hour and a half of Benji assisting Chloe with setting up and making sure her credentials were able to gain access to the laptop and other company software (in which there was some peppered in conversation where Chloe learned that Benji and Emily were dating), Benji finally sat back with arms in the air and a “Great! You’re all done.” 

Pushing up from the chair, he looked down at Chloe, “I think I’m meant to be sending you along to Aubrey to sign some paperwork now.” 

“Oh okay, thank you!” 

“Sure, no problem.” Benji threw her a quick look of uncertainty, “Do you need any assistance getting to her office?” he asked.

“Nope. Emily walked me by her office earlier. I am pretty sure I know how to get back.” Chloe stood and nodded her head affirmatively.

“Awesome. Well then, it was a great pleasure meeting you! If you need anything from me, I just sit in there.” Benji’s thumb pointed over his shoulder in the direction of the ‘Bullpen’. “E-mail or Slack message works too. I hope you have a good rest of your day!”

“Thank you!” Chloe repeated her gratitude before making her way back to her best friend’s office.

\---

“Come in,” Aubrey’s voice chirped from the other side of the wooden door Chloe knocked on. 

“Hey,” Chloe peeked her head in. “I was told there is some paperwork you need me to sign, Ms. Head of Legal.” Chloe enunciated her best friend’s title, adding weight to each word. She let a wide grin spread on her face as she pushed the door open and fully entered Aubrey’s office. 

Chloe looked around the room with awe. Her eyes swept over the shelves filled with books of all sizes lining the walls. On a single shelf, she could see a few framed photographs Aubrey had chosen to place - Aubrey’s grinning family of tall, blonde, blue-eyed perfections, Aubrey and Chloe at college graduation, and a picture of Aubrey with some of her closest high school friends.

Aubrey had her back to the shelf Chloe was eying. Sitting at her desk in a comfortable leather armchair, she watched the redhead soak everything in. She could not help but let an amused smile grace her face. 

It was evident Chloe finally finished her visual sweep of the office when her eyes landed on the blonde that had been sitting quietly in the room. Aubrey looked quite proper, sitting straight-backed and thoroughly poised in her chair, canvassed by books behind her.

“Oh my gosh, Bree. I cannot believe this is my first time seeing your office!” 

Now standing almost squarely in the middle of the room, Chloe spread her arms, “I know you’ve been here for over a year now, but this really concretes it all for me. My best friend is an aca-amazingly successful lawyer and for an incredibly awesome NYC record label nonetheless.” 

Chloe squealed in excitement, unable to contain her emotions.

Aubrey rolled her eyes lightheartedly and chuckled to herself before lifting a shoulder and placing a delicate hand to her chest, “Well, what can I say, I guess.” she batted her eyelashes showcasing her flattery.

“And you decided to bring little old me to ride along your coattails.” Chloe clasped her hands together between her thighs and tucked her chin against her chest to give Aubrey her best look of puppy dog eyes endearment. “What did I ever do to deserve you?” 

Aubrey laughed aloud. “Only accompany me through the depths of Alice hell and keep me sane for the better half of a decade.” 

“Oh right. What a travesty our college life was, but thank God, that’s all behind us now.” Chloe gave a relieved shiver as her mind quickly left the trip down memory lane.

Chloe and Aubrey had met during their college days when both had tried out for their university’s all-female acapella group. They both wholeheartedly agreed that meeting each other had been a blessing. Without the other, neither girl believed they would have endured the constant and brutal verbal lashings to their self-esteem given by Alice, the acapella group’s leader. 

Bonding together over such a natural and ready enemy and so many emotional hardships easily sealed together their friendship as one that would last for a lifetime.

Pulling the empty chair away from Aubrey’s desk, Chloe sat down across her friend. 

“So~,” Aubrey drawled out with enthusiastic curiosity dripping in her voice, “How are you liking everything so far?”

“Aubrey, this place is a-mazing. And aca-scuse me, therapy quiet room? What new age hippie magic shit is that?” Chloe’s face was filled with disbelief. 

“I know, right?” Aubrey grinned. “I have taken so many naps in there in-between meetings.”

“Oh my gosh, are we allowed to have cuddle naps?” 

Aubrey shrugged, “I don’t see why not.” 

“I won’t tell HR if you won’t.” a coy voice breached the air from behind them. 

Chloe looked over her shoulder, back to Aubrey’s office doorway. There she found a tall, dark-haired woman leaning against the frame. The woman let out a low whistle before she winked at Chloe, “Hi there, Gorgeous.”

The brunette let the words roll off her tongue flirtatiously before lifting the corner of her lip into a smirk and leaving behind an undeniable air of playful mirth in the hanging space.

“Unbelievable,” Aubrey stood up with a gentle shake of her head. She motioned to the newcomer. “Chloe, meet Stacie Conrad. Stacie is the record label’s Human Resources Manager.” 

“Oh!” Chloe quickly jumped to her feet. She smoothed out her skirt before covering the short distance to the doorway. Holding out her right hand, Chloe smiled, “I remember speaking to you on the phone. It’s a pleasure to meet you in person.” 

Stacie cocked her head to a slight angle. Her eyes were not shy in their attempt to hide their path which wandered from Chloe’s heels back up to her face. There was an appreciative hum pushed through her lips, only solidifying the notion she was not listening to anything Chloe was saying.

Chloe felt the mental assessment being conducted by the woman before her. As she moved to withdraw her outstretched hand, the woman finally took Chloe’s hand in both of hers. Her right hand clasped Chloe’s right and her left anchored their hands together. “The pleasure is all mine.”

Another “Oh!”, but with less of the earlier vigor escaped Chloe’s lips. Her eyes followed Stacie’s left hand, which was gently sliding fingertips across the back of her hand, past her wrist and further up her arm. Chloe was in a state of general shock, causing her to ignore the tickles spreading up her arm due to the slow, fluid motion. The manicured hand gliding against her bare skin did not look like it planned to stop anywhere until an attention-gathering cough broke the air.

“Stacie,” Aubrey’s eyes raised and her tone held a warning, “What did we talk about?” 

“Are you referring to my highly welcoming and generous greeting where I feel out all of our lovely new co-workers ? Because I’m just doing my job.” Stacie responded with a batting of her eyelashes and an attempt at innocence.

Chloe’s eyebrows raised in amusement at the exchange occurring before her. Her eyes darted from the new woman, still holding on to her hand, back to her best friend.

“Stacie, if it wasn’t for the fact that I know Chloe isn’t going to issue a sexual harassment suit against us, I would file this away as your third strike in that department.” 

Stacie’s jaw dropped in offense and her hands withdrew from Chloe to instead be placed against her chest. “I know nothing of this sexual harassment you speak of, nor do I believe such strikes exist against me.” Her hands dipped slightly to cover her breasts where she gave herself a quick squeeze. And another wink was thrown to Chloe in the process.

“I’m serious, Stace. You are lucky we were able to nip the cases with the interns in the bud -” 

“Oh, they were nipped in the bud alright,” Stacie mumbled with a smirk. 

It was unsure whether Aubrey had heard as she continued her statement “-Neither of them filed a formal complaint, and I got them to sign confidentiality agreements.” 

Chloe had to bite back her grin threatening to escape. She was afraid any showing leak of the entertainment she was getting from this moment would surely cause her best friend to be upset at her for condoning the brunette’s behavior. 

“Oh, my hero,” Stacie gushed.

Aubrey exasperatedly sighed. “You will be the death of me, woman.”

“Would you like to explore the possibilities?” Stacie wiggled her eyebrows suggestively. 

“What now?” Chloe asked with keen interest.

“Oh my gosh, no. Stacie, you really should not be making sexually suggestive remarks or actions to or about your co-workers during working hours or on company property.”

Stacie waved her hand dismissively. “Oh come on, we don’t have to meet up during working hours or on company property. I’m game for the bar, club, my place…” A sly smile crept to Stacie’s lips as she paused for effect, “yours?”

Another exasperated sigh and a shake of a head of blonde hair. “Stacie, this will be the last time I talk to you about your attempt at casual inter-office sexual relationships.” 

“Fine fine.” Pinching together her index finger and thumb, the brunette drew a line across her lips as if zipping them and turning to a lock. Throwing the imaginary key over her shoulder, she pursed her lips at Aubrey. “You’re really no fun.” 

“Well, it’s hard to find time for fun when I’m still receiving paperwork over your Bologna Barb incident.”

At hearing a phrase like ‘Bologna Barb’, Chloe could not hold back her incredulous expression.

“I can’t help it if I’m a foodie.” Stacie said with a lazy shrug of her shoulders. “It’s hard not to be one living in this great city of ours. There are tasty delights at every corner.” 

Stacie’s eyes flicked once again over Chloe as she sounded another appreciative hum.

The redhead gave a light-hearted giggle in reply, which earned her a third wink from the dark-haired woman. 

As though a switch had turned at wringing as much fun as she could from the situation before her, Stacie directed her attention back to Aubrey. “Anyway, Aubrey, I was just fluttering by to see if our lovely new hire has filled out her paperwork. Flo and I are ready to take her off your hands. We have to begin her new hire training.”

“Ah sorry, one second.” 

Aubrey walked to the printer in the corner of her office. She grabbed the stack of papers from the printer tray. “I was just printing these out when you came to my office.” The statement was directed at Chloe. 

“Most of this is just physical copies of the paperwork we already sent to you beforehand. All I need from you is for you to fill out some emergency contact and payroll information, verify what we have on your offer letter, and sign the confidentiality and non-disclosure agreement.” Aubrey separated the stack of papers in her hand into three piles on the desk. 

Chloe sat back at Aubrey’s desk. She grabbed a pen from the pencil case and started going through the paperwork before her. Her hand signed her signature whenever it was required.

\---

Stacie walked with Chloe down the hallway where she introduced Chloe to Florencia Fuentes or ‘Flo’ as she preferred to be called. 

Flo was, or had been, the sole in-house publicist for Barden Records for the past three years. 

Stacie detailed to Chloe how Flo managed the press, media and overall music industry relations and networking for the record label. Flo had recently started to outsource public relations work more often due to the label’s continued growing popularity and increasing roster of signed artists. As a result, she made a request that she desperately needed assistance. They could not expect her to handle all the various publicity campaigns and communications to get out word on the new artists as well as keep up the record label’s public standing and appeal.

In Flo’s words, Chloe was going to be her ‘Godsend’ with ‘all praise to Santa Maria’. 

However, before Flo could let Chloe flap her heavenly life-saving wings, Chloe was informed of how she would be taken through a two week-long training course. It would be a 101 crash course on all things Barden Records. Chloe would have to learn everything from critical pieces of public knowledge to in-house secrets (“Don’t forget you signed an NDA.”) throughout the 25 years of the company’s existence. 

Then, and only after Chloe gained a grasp of the history of the company and the general approach to public communications, would they begin to outline the label’s current public reputation, goals and direction. This would involve Chloe having to learn the hierarchy of existing staff, the label’s style preference of artists, on-going publicity campaigns, and anything else they deemed necessary information like network connections and important networking events.

“I know this sounds like a lot to go through, but I once had to navigate crossing the Pacific Ocean aboard a single floating piece of driftwood with nothing other than the occasional raw fish to eat for a year.” Flo pulled down the edge of her jacket suit and gave Chloe an encouraging nod. “I know you will be able to succeed in this. No problem.”

\---

It was 6PM before Stacie announced loudly to the room that she had to go get ready for a date.

 _“Ay dios mio,”_ Flo had whispered when she became cognizant of the time. They had started off Chloe’s crash course training right after lunch and had only stopped for two bathroom breaks in-between.

“As you can see, we have barely scratched the company history. Now we all go home and get some sleep. Be prepared for even more knowledge stuffing tomorrow.” Flo dismissed Chloe with an enthusiastic smile and a push out of the back office meeting room. “I cannot wait to see you again tomorrow. For if I see your face, it will have meant you survived the night.”

Now standing back at her desk, Chloe let out a deep breath. It was an attempt to release the exhaustion she could feel wearing down from her head through to the rest of her body. Her hands lightly traced the neatly folded yellow t-shirt stamped with “Barden Records” sitting squarely on her desk. She eyed the other record label branded goodies Emily had left for her. Her eyes lingered particularly long on a small, vinyl-player shaped stress ball. It looked pretty useful right about now.

“Long day?” Aubrey came up to Chloe’s side and gave a gentle nudge of her hip against Chloe’s.

“One of the longest,” Chloe responded to Aubrey. “Sorry, you didn’t have to wait for me you know.”

Aubrey brushed off the apology. “Not an issue at all, Chlo. I have been trying to beat my own high score of Mrs. Pac Man on the arcade machine for the past week now. It was hardly a wait, because I still haven’t managed that.” 

Aubrey sighed in defeat before replacing her expression with one of enthusiasm. “Ready to go then?” the blonde quickly jerked her head toward the office’s front exit.

“Mmhm,” Chloe placed her laptop into her tote-sized purse and slid into her suit jacket. After quickly adjusting her hair over the jacket’s collar, she lifted her purse from her desk. She made her way to follow her friend, but found Aubrey was eyeing the ‘Bullpen’ and its occupants. 

Chloe was surprised to see at least 6 people in the room even though it was past the record label’s general working hours.

“Busy time for the record label?” Chloe asked. 

“Well, we’re really never _not_ busy. But everyone in there is probably waiting for whatever artist booked studio time tonight.”

“Studio?” Chloe was confused. Emily had not mentioned anything about a studio during their office tour.

“Ah, right. I guess you would not have learned about the recording studio in Barden Records 101.” Though Chloe knew Aubrey was speaking to her, the blonde was directing her attention upward as though she were voicing aloud a mental thought.

“We are lucky enough to have our own studio. Well,” Aubrey paused, “two actually. They’re attached to the building. You just have to go back past Emily’s desk to get to the entrance.”

Chloe’s eyes followed as Aubrey pointed toward the direction she was speaking. The redhead vaguely recalled how a hallway branched to the right of the receptionist desk when she was greeted by Emily that morning.

“You were probably not made aware of it, because the studio is technically a separate entity from the record label. They want to manage the full creative process whenever they can I guess,” Aubrey gave a shrug. 

“That’s pretty neat.” 

“Oh!” Aubrey abruptly clapped her hands together. “Did you meet any of the head honchos in the ‘Bullpen’ today?” she asked. 

“Err,” Chloe’s mouth formed a distorted angular shape - a reflexive habit when she was uncertain or uncomfortable. “Benji?” Chloe offered. 

Aubrey grinned. 

“Benji Applebaum is Jesse Swanson’s cousin, which explains why he gets to sit in the ‘Bullpen’ but he isn’t a head honcho in the slightest. He is one half of the record label’s IT department, though. The second half of that is Donald. You will meet him eventually. He sits around here somewhere.” Aubrey made a vague motion with her hand towards a clump of currently empty desks. 

“I believe Benji also works as an Audio Technician for the studio. I mean, in general, he’s just an overall tech wizard. He is an insanely sweet guy, too. So of course he is dating our enthusiastic and sweetheart receptionist Emily.” 

Catching on to the quizzical expression crossing Chloe’s face at her statement, Aubrey continued, “Yes, I know what you heard this morning about inter-office relations.” 

The blonde gave a roll of her eyes. 

“You can thank Stacie actually for scheming to get them together. Not one of her worse ones where questionable sexual harassment is involved though - at least that I know of anyway. Everything seemed proper enough. They mutually filed the mandatory disclosure paperwork and have been smooth sailing ever since.” 

Aubrey dismissed the topic with a shrug from her shoulders before continuing with giving Chloe the rundown to the ‘Bullpen’.

“That there is Jesse Swanson. He is Barden Records’ CEO.” Aubrey’s face squished together in thought, “I believe he is also the principal studio manager for the two in-house studios. I’m really not as knowledgeable about what goes on in the studios to be honest.”

With Aubrey’s help, Chloe was able to match the name to the man she had observed earlier that day. The one with the organized desk and vast collection of DVDs.

Aubrey continued to point out more people to Chloe. Luke, the blonde male in the room, was one of the record label’s senior music producers. Aubrey spoke in heavy detail about the tight, bicep-hugging t-shirts he wore every day, which made Chloe throw a suspicious glance at her friend. Aubrey brushed off her attempts to pry further about the level of attention given to Luke's outfits. 

The asian female donning a red beanie was Lilly. Chloe learned she was a common session musician invited to collaborate with artists during their session recordings. “Great beat boxer. Not much of a talker, or at least a very silent talker.”

“Sitting in the beanbag is CR, stands for Cynthia Rose.” Aubrey described the woman with long, tight braids flowing down her backside. “She’s an artist manager for the record label. She handles only one artist at the moment, and don’t tell anyone I said this,” Aubrey brought her voice down to a whisper, “it’s the only artist we really should be bothered with.”

Aubrey straightened up and her head lifted almost as though she took pride in being able to say her next statement, “There in the leather chair and the only other significant mind in the ‘Bullpen’ is our Chief Music Engineer, who also happens to be an award-winning DJ - Beca Mitchell.”

“The woman is literally a thorn in my side for how lax she is about releasing media before I have filed the proper copyrights, but I’ll be damned if the talent oozing out of that brunette is not the reason all of us have jobs.” 

Chloe’s eyes fell on the smiling brunette, casually hanging out with her co-workers and unknowingly the object of Aubrey’s admiration and Chloe’s attention. 

“That tiny terror of talent is the record label’s most notable signed artist, but somehow she makes the time to also be the record label’s primary music producer. A majority, if not all, of Barden Records’ most popular songs on the radio and streaming services right now have Beca’s fingerprints all over them.”

Looking at the music producer comfortably leaned back in her leather armchair, a guitar loosely cradled in her lap, and her fingers absently, but expertly strumming the instrument’s strings as she laughed at whatever was being said within the walls of the ‘Bullpen’, Chloe could just feel the waves of unassuming talent wafting from Beca Mitchell. For whatever reason, it turned her on.

“Mmm,” Chloe hummed appreciatively. “I wonder what else she likes to leave her fingerprints all over.”

“Dear Lord, Chloe.” Aubrey halted. “Did Stacie loop you into her ‘Seduce the new coworker into seducing Beca Mitchell and take bets on finding out her sexuality’ game?” 

Chloe burst out an uninhibited laugh. “Excuse me, what?” she turned to ask her friend with genuine interest after gathering herself together. 

Aubrey huffed. “It’s just - well - Stacie has this weird thing and it’s - you know what... nevermind.” Aubrey waved her hands in the air in front of her as though the action would erase the past few minutes of their conversation. 

“Chlo, just promise me you will say no to Stacie if she asks you to attempt to seduce Beca Mitchell. And you will absolutely not take part in any running bet Stacie has on what Beca’s sexual preference may be.” 

A look of bewilderment and surprise crossed Chloe’s face. Wherever she thought the bounds of Stacie Conrad’s playful sexual antics to reach, even if having just met her today, she did not expect it to reach here. Though she felt like she understood where Stacie was coming from, because her interests were certainly piqued when hearing Aubrey mention Beca’s sexual ambiguity.

“First of all, I’m offended, Bree. Do I look like a slut to you? But second of all, why does this actually sound fun as hell. Where do I sign up?”

“Chlo!” Aubrey was starting to look like she was a few nerves away from becoming a tea kettle boiling over.

Chloe giggled, “Bree.” Reaching over to her friend, Chloe placed her hands on Aubrey’s upper arms. “Relax.” She hummed as she soothingly rubbed the blonde’s arms. 

“Seriously, Chloe. If you assist Stacie in putting Beca through an unwanted, sexual harassment scenario just to see which way she swings and not only contribute to my work life becoming hell, but also if you put the job I worked so hard to refer you for at risk, I will murder you in your sleep.”

“I don’t doubt that at all, sweetie.” Chloe brought her left hand to cup Aubrey’s chin and gave a quick squeeze of the blonde woman’s cheeks. “Let’s go home. Before I succumb to my curiosity and march into the ‘Bullpen’ and see what gets Beca Mitchell’s bulls really going.” Chloe added a grin and a mischievous wiggle of her eyebrows. 

Aubrey groaned and let her head hang back, making her current displeasure for her best friend evident. 

“Are you even listening to me, woman? Or is your toner that loud right now?” However, Aubrey seemed to be asking a rhetorical question, because she allowed her laughing best friend to push, hands on her back, toward the front of the office. 

“Oops! Wait! I want to bring home my new Barden Records Yeti.” Chloe stopped pushing Aubrey and quickly ran back to her desk. She picked up the little insulated bottle, which came as part of her ‘Welcome Swag’ courtesy of Barden Records and arranged on her desk by one Emily Junk. 

“I am so excited to put my tea in you.” She sighed admiringly before cupping the bottle excitedly to her cheek. With a satisfied smile, Chloe dropped the bottle into her leather tote.

“Ok, now I’m ready to go.” Chloe declared, catching back up to where Aubrey had been waiting for her. 

“You know I have never been in the office this late,” Aubrey remarked, “and I’m starving now.”

“If you would let me stay later, I have a feeling we could both find something to eat right in here tonight. Seems like the record label has an in-house ‘meat’ pen, with some choice meats, if you catch my drift.” Chloe winked teasingly. “Let me just call a woman about a bet first.” 

An unamused Aubrey blinked back at Chloe with a deadpan expression. Then she caved to another exasperated groan, which elicited a giggle from Chloe.

As the two best friends neared the front of the office, the ‘Bullpen’, re-dubbed ‘meat’ pen by Chloe, came up on their left. Chloe watched as Aubrey gave cursory waves to the room’s occupants. 

For humor’s sake, Chloe decided to throw a final glance into the room. But instead of finding something to continue teasing Aubrey with, Chloe was met with a surprise. She had happened to lock eyes with a pair of mesmerizing steel blue irises, which she could feel herself mentally and physically get drawn toward. 

With the near-immediate realization of their connection, a slight warmth grew in her cheeks and a quick ‘hic’ caught in her throat. Chloe hastily turned away from Beca Mitchell’s unexpected and imposing gaze. She was shocked with herself. She had never gotten jumpy over something as simple as eye contact before.

Maybe it was the unfamiliar edge of nervousness, but suddenly Aubrey’s weight pushing back against her was no longer funny. “Move that toned ass of yours faster, you bitch!” Chloe exclaimed. She gave one final shove to get the laughing and unsuspecting Aubrey out and over the office door’s threshold. 

With the cool night air calming the heat that had filled her cheeks and refreshing her lungs with clean oxygen, Chloe let free a fleeting thought - maybe she would like to play Stacie’s game and find out where Beca’s interests lie? If at least to find out for herself what more there is to drown in besides Beca’s deep pools of blue eyes.

Chloe gently shook her head, quietly dismissing her inner voice. She retrieved her earphones from her tote bag and placed them into her ears. She quickly pressed ‘Play’, continuing her morning playlist as she hooked herself onto Aubrey’s left arm. 

The two started their way home and Chloe let the falsetto male voice washing over her body from her ears free her spirit.

_“Pour a little me on you.”_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> if you're curious what songs the lyrics Chloe sings are:
> 
> Song 1 - Deeper - Cailee Rae (Fancy Cars Remix)  
> Song 2 - Me On You - Nicky Romero, Taio Cruz, Steve Aoki Remix
> 
> You've made it here, so I have to ask - should I continue or go back to my hermit shell?


	2. Ladies Jam

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow! Thank you to everyone who took the time to leave a comment. I am really glad you guys enjoyed the introduction into this world. I guess I'll have to try not to let you all down. Consider the hermit shell set aside for now. No pressure or anything...
> 
> If you feel like my writing style switches up, let's just blame it on the cobwebs?

Chloe watched in silence as the brown haired male named Bumper continued to argue with the Australian sitting across the meeting table from him.

“How are you going to tell me that the data presented here is not accurate? I am literally,” the man raised a pointed finger to the air, “the king of spreadsheets.” 

“Well, I’m not sure wot else to say to you, Bumpa. I generated my diagram directly from the database store.” the Marketing Manager dubbed Fat Amy was leaning back casually in her seat. She was seemingly unbothered by the growing frustrations of the Digital Marketer before her. “You really should use the data tools the engineering department built for us. You would hardly have to do additional manipulation and potentially cause improper data segmentation.”

“Oh okay, so you’re telling me - you’re telling me I messed up somewhere between querying the data and creating a pivot table from said data. All of which my visualizations are based off?” He challenged her with a raised eyebrow. 

Fat Amy offered a shrug. “Wotevah happened, your data is not matching wot I found.”

“Wow!” Bumper’s exclamation was drenched in disbelief, further accentuated by a dropped and now hanging jaw. “Why don’t you just come right on out and say it then.” the man brought his hands to pound against his chest.

“Say wot?”

“Bumpa, you are horrible at your job, Bumpa!” The visibly upset man made a mockery of his co-workers accent. Nearly screeching, his voice was high-pitched and weirdly stressed, but it was the additional effect of him squishing his face together as he taunted the Australian which made the whole scene more bizarre. 

Flo’s face cracked into an incredulous stare. Meanwhile, Fat Amy’s eyebrows were raised high on her forehead.

Chloe chose in that moment to distract herself from the nervous air by picking at the piece of lint she saw sticking to her navy dress pants right above her knee. She uncrossed her legs, noticing there was more than one, and ran her hands down her thighs, making a few quick repetitive motions, until, unfortunately, there were no longer any noticeable remains. She pressed her lips together, doing her best to keep her eyes lowered. 

“Calm down, Bumpa,” Stacie’s voice floated from where she sat in the back of the room. There was a sudden clearing of her throat. “Sorry, Bumper.” she corrected herself. “Everyone, let’s all take a second.” 

“Yes. Calm. Breathe. I once observed an upset gentleman scream his way into oxygen deprivation. He quickly passed on from this world before assistance could be given.” Flo tapped her pointer and index fingers to her forehead, down to her chest, then to her left and right shoulders - sending a quick prayer upward. 

“You have much to live for, so let us appreciate the air we can calmly and freely breathe here and now. Yes?” the Senior Publicist gave Bumper an encouraging nod, but her eyes held the slightest hints of worry.

When Flo had congratulated Chloe for freshly completing the two week long Barden Records 101 crash course training, Chloe did not think sitting in meetings with tamper throwing men would be where she progressed to next. She did not mind Fat Amy though. The Australian seemed coolheaded enough. There had only been a slight hitch when the woman introduced herself.

_“I’m sorry, I do not think I caught that clearly.” Chloe leaned in closer with a squint to her eyes._

_“Ah, you heard me clear, mate. Call me Fat Amy.” Amy patted Chloe’s hand as if to comfort her._

_“May I ask why you want me to call you- ” Chloe hesitated unsure to continue. She saw no hint from the blonde before her of needing to stop what she was about to say next, so she let it roll off her tongue, “‘Fat Amy’?”_

_“Well, it was so that twig bitches such as yourself would not say it behind my back. Now it’s just part of my brand, and I have grown quite fond of it.” Fat Amy shrugged her shoulders nonchalantly. “New York City loves Fat Amy - she gets on the list for all the right hot spots in town.”_

“You are right. You guys are right. I’m sorry. I do not know what that outburst was.” Bumper blinked his eyes rapidly and released a long exhale. 

“It has really been a whirlwind few weeks. What with preparing to unleash Alexandra’s first album campaign, while we are still riding out Beca’s latest single release, and gathering together the Q2 digital marketing report. It’s been a lot.” 

Flo nodded her head understandingly and rubbed Bumper’s shoulder. “There was a weekend I had to arrange a funeral, a baptism, a bridal shower, and an intervention. I completely understand.”

Bumper turned to Fat Amy. “Amy, I apologize for yelling at you.”

“While doing a horrible impression of me I might add, but all is forgiven, mate.” Fat Amy accepted Bumper’s apology with a contented smile.

Sitting upright in her chair, Amy cleared her throat and turned to Flo. “Numbers aside, the recent top search engine hot words commonly associated with ‘Barden Records’ have been ‘Beca Mitchell’, ‘DJ Becks’, ‘Jesse Swanson’, ‘Alexandra Borne’, ‘Titanium Studios’.” 

“The buzz of anticipation for Alexandra’s first album campaign seems to be going well. Not only has she been able to bump the ‘Jungle Clan’ from being a top searched Barden Records’ artist, but her Instagram and Twitter followers numbers have grown by at least 25%.” Bumper glanced warily at Amy. Seeing no objection or correction to his statistic, he added, “Really it is no surprise. She already had a large following on Youtube and TikTok from her acoustic covers before we signed her.”

“This is great news.” Flo asserted. “I discussed with Alexandra which initial appearances make sense for the image she wishes to build. If we can get it, she and I agreed on a Vogue video where she takes us through her make-up routine and maybe some fun Buzzfeed video to cover the basics.” 

“I also heard back from a few of my connections from the late night shows. We should be receiving potential interview slots soon. If the openings align closely to the original estimated album release and Alexandra’s schedule allows, I think she should squeeze in what she can.” 

It was the first time Chloe had spoken up in the meeting. Unsure if she had been helpful, because she had just dipped her toe in unexplored territory, Chloe shyly slid back in her chair. 

Flo made sure to turn to the junior publicist with an impressed smile and approving nod. The response from Flo lifted Chloe from uncertainty. 

Flo glanced at Amy and then at Bumper. Both were gently nodding their heads, and neither indicated they had additional comments. The latino woman pressed her hands down on the table. “I guess that is settled then. We will wait to hear what openings there are for the late night shows. Once we solidify the promotional event timeline with Alexandra, we can release a press statement to the media outlets declaring the confirmed album release date.”

The meeting attendees all nodded and stood up from their chairs to break for the lunch hour. 

In that instant, a knock sounded on the closed door prompting Amy to go open it. She greeted the woman standing on the other side. 

“Wot’s up, CR?” 

“Sup, Ames,” Cynthia Rose cooly greeted the Marketing Manager before scanning the room of faces. “Hey Flo,” Cynthia Rose found who she was looking for, “I have a quick question for you.”

“Yes, what is it?”

“I was going over this weekend’s wrap-up press junket schedule for Beca. Did you know she is double-booked during the Saturday lunch slot? One of them happens to also be with the jackass at Reverb Media.”

Flo’s face went blank. “Double-booked? Reverb Media ... Saturday lunch?” Flo muttered the words dumbly and to no one in particular.

“Flo?” Cynthia-Rose snapped her fingers in front of the Latino woman trying to bring her back to Earth. “Come back to us, baby.”

Flo’s eyes slowly came to focus on Cynthia-Rose’s face. “I will call Reverb and let them know Beca cannot make it due to a mistake in double-booking. It should be fine.” 

“Ah okay, cool.” Cynthia-Rose seemed satisfied with the quick solution. “I will let Beca know she does not have to worry about fending off hunger and the will to choke her interviewer then.”

“I’m game for choking, if that’s what Beca’s in to,” Stacie offered.

Cynthia-Rose replied with a chuckle. “Nah, I think she’ll pass on that one, Stace. So kind of you to offer though.” 

“Oh, anytime.” Stacie casually responded. 

Everyone else shook off the moment with mild amusement on their faces and continued out of the meeting room. 

Chloe followed Amy, and had almost cleared the doorway, when she felt a tap on her shoulder. She turned to find Stacie. 

“Quick chit-chat?” Stacie motioned back into the room. 

Chloe nodded her head and followed the taller woman back to the meeting table. 

“Is everything alright?” Chloe’s unease could be heard as she asked her question.

“Oh, yes! The reason why I wanted to speak to you is to congratulate you. Chloe Beale, you have successfully passed the two week evaluation period. You are now a fully fledged Barden Record employee!” Reaching into the pocket of her suit jacket, the tall brunette held out a magnetic key card. “This is your access card. You can now freely enter and exit the building as needed.” 

Chloe grabbed a hold of the card, but Stacie did not release her grip on the other end.

Chloe was being examined by the brunette with a calculating expression. 

“I wonder if you have it in you, Beale.” 

“What?” Chloe tilted her head, giving the taller woman a searching look. She was not sure what Stacie was referring to.

“I am about to hand you the keys to what some people might consider a very scandalous sexual playground. Will you know what to do with this great power?”

Chloe giggled lightly and shook her head. “Are you ever not thinking about sex, Conrad?”

“I can’t help it. He’s an insatiable hunter.” Stacie finally let go of the key card to motion down between her legs with quick direction from both her pointer fingers. “Always prepared, always ready to pounce”

Impressed was the only way to describe Chloe’s expression. 

“I’ll admit that I will be a little disappointed in you if you don’t even attempt to have some fun around the office, Beale. There are just oh-so-many comfortable pieces of furniture laying about.” Stacie wiggled her fingers vaguely in the air. “Unless you’re the type that likes it rough, in which case, there’s places for that too. Brick walls, table tops, the metal stairs,” the brunette’s voice trailed off as she squinted at Chloe. “I’m banking on you being a softie, though. And again, who knows if you have it in you.” 

“It almost sounds like you’re issuing me a challenge, Conrad. I’ll have you know that I’m a _very_ competitive person.” Chloe cocked her brow, the slightest tinge of smugness laced in her statement.

“Oh, there she is. I just knew we would be birds of a feather when we met.” Stacie excitedly clapped her hands together before clasping and pressing them against her cheek with an innocent tilt of the head. “Baby Bird, do you think you can help me with something fun?” 

“Ooh, what’s fun?” an innocently questioning Emily had suddenly appeared. 

“My dear sweet Emily,” Stacie smiled, “ _so so so_ many things, but I’ll teach you about them later.” 

Chloe nudged Stacie, “Do not taint her.” 

“Oh whatever, we all have to grow some day.” 

Emily’s face was littered with confusion. She had no idea what was being discussed right in front of her, and the older women did not appear willing to loop her in. “Erm, I was just coming to ask if you guys wanted to join for lunch?” she hesitantly offered.

“Oh, of course!” Chloe brushed past Stacie, “I’m starving!” 

“A ladies lunch? How could I say no?” 

\--- 

Situated on the ground floor of the five-story building located in the Meatpacking District where two wide, cobblestone roads intersected, Bella’s was a prime and popular lunch spot for young professionals. On sunny days, such as this particular one, it was especially so due to its large outdoor seating area with beautiful garden-esque decor. There was a lacking architecture of towering skyscrapers in this part of the city which allowed the sun to not just be a gentle reminder but a glaring presence. 

The six Barden Records’ employees sat at the adjoined collection of 3 small lunch tables. Around them were other chattering lunch-goers and practically everyone was wearing sunglasses.

“The morning meeting was a mess. I should have synced with Bumper prior.” Amy’s tone was apologetic. 

Flo was just spooning some salad into her mouth, so she had to shake her head with a hand held up. 

She was able to reply with “No, not at all.” once she swallowed her food and dabbed the corner of her napkin to her lip. The slight excess salad dressing that had accumulated was wiped away. 

“I understand the stress we are all operating under. You saw me this morning - CR had to approach me about a scheduling mix-up.” Flo rolled her eyes and sighed. “Could you imagine if it were anyone else? I would not even be at lunch right now. I would probably be making phone calls to apologize and butter people up, making future commitments and promises to retain the relationship. Thank God it was Beca. Almost everyone is understanding enough with her.”

“Well, it’s not just Beca, Flo. You have a great relationship with these people too.” Amy’s tone was matter-of-fact and comforting. “You have to give yourself credit for that.” 

Aubrey pitched in. “She’s right, you know. Beca Mitchell may hold the public persona of the cool, down-to-earth DJ you’d want to maintain a good relationship and be friends with -”

“Or bang,” Stacie absentmindedly interjected. 

Aubrey rolled her eyes and continued, “but Flo Fuentes was the stepstone in building the media’s connection with her to begin with. And you did it amazingly, sweetie.” 

“The short stack wouldn’t be half as popular as she is if it weren’t for your networking first and foremost.” Amy nodded her head in finality.

Flo bit back a smile with misty tears in her eyes. “Wow, thank you guys. I did not know I needed that, but I did.” 

“You have done a lot, woman. You are about as good at doing your job as I am mine.” Amy’s offhand confidence in herself was light and did not subtract from her affirmation for Flo. 

“Wow.” The choked voice brought the five older women to turn towards the youngest seated at the table. 

Emily had tears streaming down her eyes. She hastily wiped the streaks lining her face, gently lifting the sunglasses perched on her nose before fanning her face. “I am so touched by the love you have for eachother. Like, you guys,” Emily gulped as though she were a few more women empowering moments from breaking a dam full of emotional release, “I do not think you ladies understand the beauty of this moment I just witnessed.” 

“Emily, sweetheart, neva’ change.” Amy tipped her glass of water and looked at Emily adoringly. 

“Well, there’s one or two things I can think of changing for her.” 

Stacie perked up at the gazes being thrown at her. “What?” she asked defensively. “You guys totally know I mean in the v-card and general sexual area of things, right?”

“Stace, so inappropriate.” Aubrey shook her head.

“We’re on lunch break. I’m not on company time. Therefore, it’s perfectly fine for me to ask my friend,” Stacie emphasized the last word as she turned to Emily with an innocent smile, “whether or not she has given up her sacred v-card to her adorable man candy yet.” 

A flush of deep rose instantly spread on Emily’s cheeks and she sputtered on the water she was sipping. Her hand shot up, cupping beneath her chin to catch the water spillage. “Wha - why do you - ohmygosh.”

Amy casually placed her hand on Emily’s back and gently patted. “Alright there, Em?” 

The youngest woman grabbed at her napkin and blotted her mouth. Her eyes remained lowered but wide. 

“Oh. my. Gosh.” Stacie cackled. “You did, didn’t you? Tell me where! When? How?!” With each question, Stacie’s voice jumped octaves, getting exponentially louder and higher. Occupants of the tables nearby sent darting glances.

“Leave the poor girl alone, Stacie.”

“Aubrey Posen, you keep your funsucking self out of this conversation.” Stacie held up a hand in Aubrey’s direction and leaned towards Emily. “Em, spill it.” Stacie paused with the briefest flash of disgust on her face, “Not what you’re drinking. Give me the details.” Chin now supported by a palm, and eyes shining bright with anticipation, Stacie directed her full attention to Emily.

“Can we talk about something else?” came the sheepish reply. 

Stacie’s face scrunched in disappointment. Usually she would push the topic further, but this was Emily. Stacie was known to be incessant, but she was not completely obtuse. She was capable of respecting the personal boundaries for a small handful of people - Emily being one of them. 

There was a sudden shift in the atmosphere with Stacie’s resignation, which brought a moment of silence to the table.

“You’re - what - 23 now?” Amy questioned the brunette beside her. 

Emily nodded. 

Flo’s eyebrows shot up her forehead. “To be _that_ innocent is an art form.” 

The other women mutely nodded their heads in agreement. 

“No,” Stacie’s objection trailed out slowly. Her eyes were hazily staring at the empty air in front of her, lips softly still forming the ‘o’ of her last word, and breath caught in pause. The slightest quirk of her brow, an inhale, and the other women were collectively waiting to hear what she was going to say next. “True art form is not presenting any sign or reaction to attraction - being able to maintain complete neutrality.”

Amy released a light chuckle. “This again.” The Australian raised her water glass to her lips and took a sip. Her eyes were lowered to the table, but it was clear she was still listening, expecting Stacie to continue and emphasize more on what she was referencing.

“Amy, out of everyone here, you’re one of the closest people to Beca. I have a feeling you know which way she swings. Please tell me?” Stacie’s head was tilted down, and she was looking up at Amy through fluttering eyelashes. 

“Whoop, there it is,” Amy scoffed lightheartedly. “If I did know, why would I? What’s in it for me?” The blonde placed her cup down and leaned against the back of her chair. She propped her elbows on the chair’s arm rests, while her hands rested on her stomach. 

Stacie pursed her lips and furrowed her brow. A single finger tapped on her bottom lip. After some pause, Stacie eventually shook her head. Her quick brainstorm had not produced anything promising. “Sometimes I wish you weren’t strictly dickly, Amy. You would make things so much easier for me.” 

A cheeky smirk spread on Amy’s lips. “Wot makes you think you would even be my type?” 

Stacie rolled her eyes. “Please. I’m everyone’s type.” 

“She’s not wrong.” Chloe met Stacie’s eye contact with a wink. 

Amy’s gaze settled on the redhead she had just met earlier in the day. Her eyes slightly narrowed. There was no emotion being conveyed in the action, but Chloe could feel herself being dissected. Measured. She shifted in her seat and eyed Amy back curiously, but whatever had gone through the blonde’s head would remain there, because Amy directed her attention back to Stacie. 

“Sorry, Stace. Mum’s the word from me. Bro code and all that.” Amy switched to sitting straight-backed. “I do see your persistent effort, though. Cheers to convincing the smoking hot mailman to tell Beca he had a package for her if she wanted to sign for it.” Amy took another sip of water. “The pen drop into a squat and thrust was an elegant touch.” 

“Oh yes. It was very nice. I gave him my number.” Flo grinned. 

“Me too.” Amy smirked.

“And what did Beca do?” Stacie asked.

“‘Uh, thanks, dude’.” Amy imitated the DJ quite accurately, causing the whole table, aside from Chloe who had yet to interact with Beca Mitchell outside of their eye contact two weeks ago, to break out in giggles and laughs. 

“My favorite was when the chiropractor came to visit.” 

“I can still hear Beca’s ‘I’m okay, thanks’ when Stacie’s seductress chiropractor asked if Beca would like her back broken.”

“Just watching the lady rub oil on to her hands was already a turn on for me, I’ll admit.” Amy’s shoulders lifted into a quick shrug.

“Why does she have to be so - ” Stacie’s hands raised in the air, long manicured fingers curling and tensely gripping emptiness. 

“Cool?” Amy offered. 

“I mean, I guess?” A huff was blown exasperatedly from Stacie’s nostrils. “It’s so frustrating.” 

“You mean you’re sexually frustrated, because she won’t let you into her pants.” The critique from Aubrey was stifling a light laugh. 

“Well, kinda! It’s so mysterious and sexy, and it makes me fucking want her more.” Stacie admitted unashamedly. “There has not been a single thread of evidence to cause me to believe I don’t have a chance. I need to know what will make her tick, so I can try to do it too.”

Amy’s light blonde curls tossed from left to right. “Give up trying to bang her, Stace. I’m telling you that as your friend.” 

“You know something, Fat Amy. What is it? She is straight isn’t she?”

“I cannot believe the fact you work with her isn’t the reason coming to mind,” Aubrey’s rolling eyes caught on to the time displayed by the leather-banded watch on her wrist. “Oh!” The blonde’s upper body shot erect. “I have a call in 30 minutes. I have to get back to the office.” 

Aubrey grabbed the attention of the nearest wait staff with a locked stare and wave of her hand. “Check please!”

\---

As the six women poured out of the large, black Chevrolet SUV dropping them off at their office, they were greeted with a dull, thumping beat shaking the block. The wide, front windows of the Barden Records’ office were gently reverberating with each deep blow of bass.

They filed through the front door, each one being smacked in the face with the now unhindered electronic beat bouncing and ricocheting off the walls inside. 

Amy lifted her hands and sashayed past Emily’s front desk, swaying her hips and snapping her fingers to the beat. Chloe watched as one by one the women followed Amy’s lead and let the music take over their bodies in some form or fashion - a head slightly bobbing along to the rhythm, a slow sway, arms pumping into the air. 

Each danced their way deeper into the office where the music became all consuming. Chloe could feel her heart thumping along to the bass rippling along her body. She too let the music take over, swaying with the groove.

The source behind the music blasting in the office appeared to come from the loft where the majority of employees were gathered. 

A ‘woo’ escaped from somewhere in front of Chloe, she wasn’t sure who it came from, but it was loud enough to catch the attention of a few people leaning against the balcony. A few faces turned down towards the women freshly returning from lunch.

_“Show me a piece of your heart_  
_A piece of your love  
_ _I’m calling you up to gettin’ down down down”_

Stacie was singing along to the song. Her body curving and twisting seductively lower. 

“Okay, Stacie!” Flo cheered her on. 

The tall brunette, relishing in the encouragement, whipped her hair on her way up , slightly turning her head to peek over her right shoulder where she made eye contact with Chloe. With a playful upward tug at the corner of her lip, she turned toward the ginger, lifting a finger to beckon Chloe.

Not missing a beat, Chloe rolled her torso downward with each forward step she took. She closed the distance toward Stacie. Her hips popped left and right, matching the kick of a drum.

Stacie placed her hands on Chloe’s shoulders and together their bodies rolled, swung, and rocked to the music. The other women forming a small circle around them, each one continuing to ride the rhythm with their own bodies. 

Chloe took a moment to savor the fact that this was her workplace. She was dancing with her co-workers, in their office, on the day she had become an official member of the record label. The rapturous melody combined with the joy swelling in her chest spread a wide smile on her lips.

Eventually the song faded out and cheers and whistles broke out from above the dancing women. Some time during their dance, everyone on the upper platform gathered along the balcony ledge, presumably to watch the show below them. 

“New remix, Becks?” Aubrey had found the short statured producer mixed in with the crowd. 

“Work in progress,” Beca responded. “But from what I saw, doesn’t look like there is much more I need to add.” A playful smirk, a spark flashing in her slightly narrowed eyes, confidence in her tone. She pushed off the banister and walked away. 

Chloe watched the DJ’s backside become smaller as she disappeared from the railing. The redhead was not aware of the way her teeth were absently biting down on her bottom lip until the buzz of the office grew around her, reminding her where she was.

Beca’s departure had cued the workers to disperse and get back to their normal routine. 

Footsteps _‘clanged’_ on their way down the metal stairs and the normal murmur of office conversation slipped back in where the music had left.

“Ah fuck, my meeting.” Aubrey groaned beside Chloe.

“Tsk tsk, Aubrey. Language. We are back on company time now.” Stacie reprimanded with a wag of her pointer finger. 

The blonde smiled a sardonic smile combined with a single raised middle finger before she walked away, leaving an open-mouthed Stacie behind.

Flo patted Stacie’s shoulder comfortingly on her way to follow Aubrey. Eventually the circle dwindled until it was just Stacie and Chloe. 

“You have anything important you have to do right now, hottie?” 

Chloe’s face distorted as she quickly thought about the near zero tasks Flo had assigned to her. “Not really?” 

“Come grab coffee in the kitchen with me.” Stacie’s head tilted towards the back office. 

\---

There was a banging of cabinets and sliding of drawers. “We were hot.” Stacie declared as she turned, now holding a mug and spoon and walking toward the cold brew machine. “I was half tempted to take things off the dance floor.”

Chloe giggled where she sat at one of the bar stools against the kitchen island. “We’re friends now. Don’t ruin a good thing for a fun time.” her tone was playful, but there was still a hint of reprimand laced in.

“So you’re saying if we weren’t friends, this could be a thing?” Stacie flicked her finger between herself and Chloe. 

“Probably not, Stace. We both know you just want to have fun.” Chloe watched the brunette place her mug beneath the spout of the cold brew dispenser as dark liquid started filling it.

Stacie pursed her lips together and nodded gently, accepting the accurate evaluation of her chosen sexual lifestyle. Her eyes focused on Chloe’s face for a few seconds. The gaze was not sexual or sensual in any way, just looking, as if she was truly seeing Chloe for the first time. 

Her eyes narrowed suddenly and the conclusion she had drawn from her moments of evaluation became voiced aloud, “And you’re soft.” The statement held no critique or tease, just plainly announced. She lifted her now coffee-filled mug to her lips and sipped.

“I am,” Chloe smiled. “It’s not like I don’t know how to have fun, though.” she threw in after a slight pause.

“Oh, I do not doubt that at all. You seem very well balanced to me. In more ways than one of course,” Stacie winked. “I was just hoping you would be a little more laissez-faire in the sexual department. I thought I had found a smoking gun for my Beca Mitchell experiment.” Stacie settled into a bar stool beside Chloe. She released a long sigh, which slumped her shoulders. 

Chloe was surprised Stacie could be so dejected. It was an unsettling look for her. “If it makes you feel any better, I can understand your infatuation.” Chloe rested her chin in her hands. Her cheeks cupped by curled fists. “She’s hot.” 

“I daydream about the fact that she probably tastes as good as she looks, and she’s obviously very nimble with her fingers.” 

Chloe laughed. “Down, boy.”

The two women settled into a comfortable silence. One taking small sips of her coffee and the other lost in thought. 

“She’s talented and makes really great music, but her reserve and modest confidence are what get me.” The wistful remark broke the silence. 

Stacie turned slowly to the redhead, glancing at her from the corner of her eye.

Chloe’s head was tilted slightly, propped firmly against her left fist, and a small upward curve played at the corner of her lip. She resembled a daydreaming highschooler.

“Chloe Beale, are you crushing on our resident superstar?” 

“What?” Chloe’s eyes quickly widened and she lifted her head from her hands, sitting upright. “No. I’m just saying.” she started carefully, “If one were to really think about what is so alluring about Beca Mitchell, it could be that.” She attempted a casual shoulder shrug, but it came out like a nervous twitch.

Stacie’s mouth formed a wicked grin. “You have a crush on DJ Becks.” 

Chloe shook her head. 

“We hired a groupie.” Stacie was now teasing with a sing-song voice.

“Oh. my. Gosh. just stop.” feeling the warmth grow in her cheeks, Chloe placed an open-palmed hand between herself and Stacie, attempting to shield herself. “So she’s remixed some of my favorite lady jams. It does not mean I’m a groupie.” 

“Wow! Thanks for sharing that one with the class.” Stacie’s voice was dripping with mischief. “Tell me, which one really gets it going for you?”

A knock on the doorframe of the kitchen archway pulled the attention of the two women. Chloe sent a darting glance with widened eyes to Stacie who quickly rolled her lips and pressed them together firmly, attempting to hide an ecstatic grin. 

The subject of their conversation was now present, but whether Beca had been standing there long enough to know she had been their topic of discussion was a mystery to Stacie and Chloe.

“Hey, Stacie. I’m ready to review the junior music producer candidates with you if you have the time now.”

“I always have the time for you, DJ Becks.” Stacie started sliding off the bar stool. “Have you met Chloe Beale, by the way? She’s our new, incredibly hot publicist. You should be nice to her. She could be a vital piece in making you blow -” 

A ‘bang’ sounded as though something had just forcefully hit the side of the kitchen island.

“Up.” Stacie finished almost innocently. “More than you already have anyways.” 

Despite the heat and minor pain radiating from her right foot, Chloe did her best to look pleasant and normal as Beca’s gaze landed on her.

“Hey, welcome. It’s a pleasure to meet you.” Grey blues connected with electric blues for the second time.

“Oh, I’m sure it is for her too.” Stacie distractedly added.

“Hi,” Chloe smiled and held up a hand in greeting. She was sure she looked stiff, because she was trying her hardest to not throw a murderous glance at Stacie.

“Hopefully you can take over some of the annoying work I put Flo through and help her out. That woman deserves a break.”

“Yup,” Chloe pressed her lips together, causing a pop to the ‘p’. “Definitely.”

“Well, I’ll see you around.”

“Yes, see you later, Chloe.” Stacie wiggled her fingers in the air as she and Beca disappeared from the archway. 

“Want to know something interesting I learned today, Beca?” 

Chloe could still hear their voices carrying from the hall.

“What’s that?”

“You’re featured on people’s _lady jam_ playlists.” The lilt in Stacie’s voice was enough indication for Chloe to know the HR manager was grinning. Chloe could almost hear the scream coming from somewhere inside her head.

“I’m happy to be of service to those people.” Beca’s voice drifted coolly back. “Whoever they may be.”

Chloe dropped her forehead to the countertop with a groan, hands gripping her head and lost in curly ginger locks.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know I know. Not much Bechloe. We'll get there I promise. I just wanted to establish some supporting characters and get a good network outside of Aubrey for Chloe.
> 
> There is no remix I want to claim Beca as having created for what Stacie and Chloe danced to, so here's the original song... You can imagine for yourself how Beca would have remixed it:  
> Piece of Your Heart - Meduza


	3. The Pre-game

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry sorry. I honestly meant to get this out a couple weeks ago, but I had a weird moment of hating my own writing. I ended up getting sucked into reading a bunch of fanfiction to see what I could do to try and be better. Eventually I changed nothing and decided to take Beca's words of wisdom and just sack up and post. 
> 
> If there are a lot of errors in this one, I'm going to chalk it up to me not wanting to read my own work and apologize to you guys again.

There were not many moments during the working day where the Barden Records’ office was serenely quiet. Either idle chatter, on-going meetings, or the thump of bass from playing music made noise a constant in the music label’s headquarters. Chloe found no issue with the consistent drumming of life and activity around her. She preferred it actually. Sometimes though peace and quiet was... peaceful. Living in the big apple with all its city bustle meant rarely spared time for such things as peace except in the odd early hours caught between the average sleeping and waking hours. 6:45AM for example. 

Chloe had woken up earlier than usual today. There was nothing stressing or particularly exciting planned. Her body had naturally awoken her, feeling refreshed and ready to go at 5:25 in the morning. She figured getting a headstart on her workday would be harmless - Flo had assigned some deep reading on existing Barden Records’ artists and their campaign management, which she figured would be beneficial to get through sooner rather than later anyway. Leaving a note about her early departure on the fridge for Aubrey, Chloe had traversed the barely risen city alone. 

And so at 6:45 AM the junior publicist found herself in her company office situated on a bean bag. One which Emily had told her reportedly mimicked the sensations of flotation therapy (not like Chloe could attest to it ). All she knew was that it was indeed quite comfortable and had now molded to her body. 

With her macbook on her lap, right hand delicately hovering over the touchpad and a mug of tea in her left hand, Chloe could have very well forgotten she was in her office at all. She felt more as though she were in a rather expansive dream living room. Lounging under dim lighting only added to her feelings of coziness. The sun had yet to rise high enough over the city skyline to bring bright, natural lighting to her, and the motion sensors for the areas of the office outside of her range of motion had shut off some time ago. 

Chloe’s eyes had just come to the end of a paragraph defining the multiple media interventions Barden Records had to go through to cover some unsavory club incidents involving the ‘Jungle Clan’ members when the _‘click’_ of a door softly opening and closing alerted her to the entrance of another early riser. 

A gentle hum crept into the previously silent space.

_”But maybe this is the night you say you know, cause all I know is you”_

Chloe paused. 

_“Just the thought that we might be so much more got me weak in the knees”_

The voice, whoever’s voice, held such a warm melody. At least, if anyone asked Chloe to describe it down the road, that is how she would have to settle for explaining it. Really though it was almost indescribable. 

What she knew for sure was feeling as though a small flame had been lit in her chest and a blanket had been draped over her body. The flame had latched onto each musical inflection and was flickering in anticipation for the next note. She had perked up in the bean bag and was craning her head to look over the pieces of furniture blocking her view of the front entranceway. 

But no one appeared. 

Instead, the hum became distant and she heard another series of soft ‘clicks’. Another set of doors opening and closing. 

“The studio?” she mentally questioned.

Chloe’s bottom lip stretched to an odd low angle and her eyes narrowed. She had never been to the studio before. She could check it out. At least just this once. There was nothing weird about wanting to follow the urge building in her chest, telling and half near demanding her to pull herself up and walk to the studio she had no valid reason to be in. No reason other than wanting to know who the owner of the alluring voice was.

Chloe’s inner battle with herself concluded with her scrunching her face and exhaling through her nose, causing a slight droop to her shoulders.

The voice in her head had won. 

Settling back into the bean bag, Chloe found where she had left off and continued reading. Well, she tried to. She was finding it hard to concentrate. 

Eventually the beautiful voice and its melody, as well as Chloe’s wonder whether it had been a music label artist drifted from her mind. It helped that the office became subject to a steady stream of people beginning their work day. Amy among their ranks. 

“Hey ginge.” Fat Amy greeted with a smile as she walked over to the reading publicist. “Early start?” Her hand waved over Chloe’s lower torso. “You look like you’ve been here a while.” Chloe was dressed in a low v-cut cream jumpsuit which contrasted with the grey of the seating, but still she looked as though her whole being had melded into the grey bean bag beneath her. 

“I might have gotten a few hours in on this thing,” Chloe admitted with a gentle nod. 

Amy chuckled lightly. “Question for you by the way.”

“What’s up?” Chloe asked with a tilt to her head. She gave the macbook in her lap a gentle nudge, pushing it slightly away from her body and down her lap. 

“Part of the Marketing overview for the Quarterly All Hands Meeting today goes over Alexandra Borne’s debut album campaign.” A slight crease appeared in Amy’s forehead as one of her eyes narrowed. “I saw you forward the e-mail from the Late Late Show music booker. The date they have is almost perfect for us. Did Flo get Alexandra’s go ahead to book the show?”

“Yeah, we called her during lunch yesterday and confirmed with the music booker right after.”

Amy’s eyebrows lifted and she gave a nod. Approving. “Nice. I’ll make sure to mention that today then.” 

“Awes”.

Another light chuckle from Fat Amy. “Yeah, ‘Awes’.” The Australian let the word hang as if she were getting used to the sound of it. “How are things going by the way? Do you feel like one of us yet?” 

“Oh totes! Everyone has been so welcoming and accommodating. I just hope that I fit in.”

“From what I have seen, you certainly belong here.” Fat Amy gave a reassuring smile. “Flo mentioned she may even pass you the reigns to manage the PR campaign for a single release of one of our artists. All on your own.”

Chloe’s eyes widened. “Wha- Really!?” There was disbelief in her voice.

“Don’t act so surprised.” Fat Amy reproached lightly. “You don’t want Flo to start second-guessing her decision, do you?”

Chloe curled her lips and shook her head, her eyes flickering with excitement.

“That’s what I thought.” Amy winked. 

“Yo Fat Ames,” Cynthia Rose’s voice rang out through the office. She was standing in the open doorway of the ‘Bullpen’ and waving at the Australian. 

“Looks like my ethereal presence is wanted,” Amy sighed. “I’ll see you later at the All Hands,” the Marketing Manager turned and walked away. 

Left behind was an internally excited Chloe replaying the information Fat Amy had passed on to her. 

Chloe could not wait to find out who Flo would allow her to work with. Pulling her laptop closer, she went back to diligently reading the history of PR campaigns for active Barden Record artists. 

One of them would be working with her soon, and she did not want to mess up and lose anyone’s trust or belief in her.

\---

“All Hands in 5 minutes. Everyone please gather on the second floor!” Emily was making her rounds through the different areas of the office with a megaphone in her hand. Whether the megaphone was necessary was a wonder to everyone, but it certainly sparked a vigor in people to begin congregating in the designated meeting space. People started to wrap up their meetings and proceed to the loft. Chatter grew around the office and brought a different buzz than the usual working commotions. 

Finally having a reason to get up, Chloe stood and stepped away from the bean bag she had spent the past few hours on. She spread her arms wide and curved her body backwards, stretching out her muscles until she no longer felt the tightness from sitting so stationary.

“That was oddly sexual,” came a comment from behind her. 

Chloe turned her head to find Aubrey standing there with a cocked brow and crossed arms. The ginger winked playfully over her shoulder at her best friend. “Meet you in the nap nook after our company meeting?” 

Aubrey rolled her eyes, but her lips curved slightly upward. “You need to stop hanging out with Stacie, Chlo. She’s warping your professional setting social etiquette.” 

“What do you mean? I think I have excellent etiquette in any setting and this has always been the real Chloe Beale.” Chloe giggled before hooking arms with Aubrey. The blonde was shaking her head in silent judgement, but allowed Chloe to lead the two of them over towards the metal staircase leading upstairs.

“I don’t know.” Aubrey hummed. “That seemed more like something ‘Jiggle Juice Chloe Beale’ would say.” 

Chloe nudged Aubrey and quickly glanced around before bringing her voice down to a hush. “No one here needs to know about ‘Jiggle Juice Chloe’.” 

Aubrey grinned and whispered back, “Remember that when we have ladies’ cheese and wine night with Emily and Stacie tonight.”

Chloe lifted her chin in the air, “As long as the tequila stays bottled, she won’t be coming out tonight.” 

“We’re having tequila tonight?” Stacie was standing at the top of the stairs Aubrey and Chloe had just transcended. Her eyebrows were high on her forehead. “I didn’t think tonight was going to be one of those nights, but just for you, Chlo.” Stacie winked.

A barely audible snort emitted from Aubrey. 

“Wait- no.” Chloe unhooked her arm from Aubrey’s. “I wasn’t saying I wanted to. I am completely fine with tonight being a cheese and wine only night.”

“No no,” Stacie waved Chloe off. “I think your month mark calls for a night out. I’m going to go tell Amy to leave room for us at her table. They’re going to be at Club Run.” Stacie turned on her heel and headed over to where the Australian was cozily seated between Cynthia Rose and Luke on a long, emerald green sectional couch.

Chloe was left standing there, holding up an outstretched hand aimed at Stacie’s back. As the tall brunette strided further away, Chloe’s hand closed into a fist, clinging on empty air. “Shit.” the redhead muttered. Her arm dropped down to her side and she turned her head to glance at Aubrey. “Bree, if J.J. Beale comes out tonight, I’m totes blaming you.”

Aubrey smiled sweetly. “I can’t wait to play with J.J.” 

“Remember that when you’re holding my hair back.” 

“As long as you’re not dripping wet from jumping in a pool, I see no problems.” Aubrey brushed off the glare being directed at her with a shrug of her shoulders. The blonde left her disgruntled best friend and approached the large seating area becoming more populated with Barden Records employees. “You better hurry before all the comfy couch seats are taken,” she called over her shoulder.

Not caring she was in a professional environment, Chloe stuck her tongue out at her best friend’s backside before following her.

\---

“Alright, everybody!” Emily had finished her herding of employees in the office to the meeting den. She came to stand in front of the large TV screen, which displayed an on-going conference call and a few virtual smiling faces. She directed her attention to the now-filled couches and their occupants, waiting as the people trailing behind her squeezed in laps of their coworkers or plopped on to the ground. A few of the latecomers rolled over in office chairs from the War Room table . 

Last among the people Emily had towed were Jesse and Beca. Jesse came to stand beside Emily, while the petite producer went to perch herself on the arm of the green sectional jutting out closest to where the two were standing.

“Another successful quarter down, Barden! Some highlights - The Rolling Stone interview of our office vibe and culture for the modern independent record label. Appreciate everyone who took the time to leave a review to catch their attention. Great find, Flo!” Jesse began the cheering and applause with a head nodded in the direction of the Senior Publicist who smiled in return. 

“Within this single quarter, we added 30 people to our headcount. Let’s give big props to HR for finding us some great hires.” 

More ‘whoops’ and clamor. 

“Lastly, this isn’t such a company achievement as an achievement for one of our own. We just wrapped up the marketing runs and press for DJ Beck’s latest EDM single - ‘Rumors’,” Jesse turned to his childhood friend. “Congratulations on your ninth Billboard Top 100 track, Becaw!” 

At this announcement, the office broke out in rambunctious shouts. There was a particular ear-piercing whistle from a wide-grinning Fat Amy. Cynthia Rose who was seated closest to Beca, patted her on the back. 

The DJ angled her body slightly towards everyone seated behind her and accepted the hurrahs with a crooked grin and a half-raised hand which eventually made its way weaving through straight brown locks to rest on the back of her neck. 

“Now to get into the nitty gritty, I’ll pass it over to our HR manager.” 

Stacie stood up and took over the vacant spot Jesse was previously standing in. She clapped her hands together and let mischievous eyes scan over the crowd. “You know, I don’t think I will ever get over all your eyes on me. Almost makes me want to put on a show.”

A couple chuckles and giggles could be heard, but none louder than the sound of Aubrey clearing her throat.

The HR manager took the warning and continued, “As Jesse mentioned, we added quite a bit of new, sexy faces to our company roster. I believe it is the most we have grown in a single quarter. The HR team went through a lot of restructuring and planning to get our new hire training on par with handling such a large influx. I would like to give a big thank you to my team for the great work they did in pulling that off.” Stacie paused to allow for the company to give their proper appreciation. “Since our last all hands, we have added one more, which some of you may be familiar with by now. Really though, you would have to be blind to not have noticed her walking around the office. Probably the hottest person in our office beside DJ Becks,” Stacie sent a wink in Chloe’s direction. Heads turned.

A smile through pursed lips was forced on Chloe’s face as she felt heat rising in her cheeks. She was unprepared for the company-wide introduction and attention Stacie was throwing her way. Though Chloe was a pretty confident person, suddenly being thrust under the spotlight with the attention of 129 co workers headed by an appreciation of her physical features was still nerve wracking.

“Let’s all welcome our lucky number 130 and latest addition - Chloe. Chlo, you beautiful creature, please come up here and give a brief introduction.”

Chloe’s eyes widened slightly at Stacie and the next thing she felt were Aubrey’s hands on her back, pushing her up from the couch. She quickly adjusted her jumpsuit and plastered a smile on her face as her legs found the will to take her over to Stacie - Stacie who was grinning widely and beckoning her with a waved hand to hurry over. 

“Um, hi,” Chloe was impressed by her own voice - still cheery, still upbeat. Not sure how she managed that when she felt her stomach doing somersaults. She threw in a half-hearted wave with her right hand for good measure before dropping it down to clasp her left hand. “I’m Chloe.”

“Hi, Chloe.” someone responded and it was really hard to tell who from the bunch of smiling faces now watching her intently. 

“Hi,” Chloe repeated again with a slight giggle. “A little background on me - I just got my masters in Public Relations. I am just fascinated with the changing landscape of music PR and the challenges of communicating and building loyalty with press and fans in our new age.” Chloe’s hands had become unclasped and they wave, gesture, and move as she talks. “I am extremely excited and grateful to have the opportunity to work alongside Flo and learn what she knows. She has managed to juggle it so well for Barden Records for the past few years. Prior to coming here I was already a fan of your- _our_ artists. And not just because my best friend Aubrey works here. I think you all know her. If not, that’s Aubrey,” she points at the blonde who has her head slightly tilted and is giving a tight lipped smile that reaches high enough to crease the corners of her eyes. Almost like a mother watching her child adoringly.

“Anyways, I realize I am totes rambling now. So I’ll just finish with this - I know I have only been here a little under a month now, but you guys are the best. I do not think I have met so many people in a single company where each person is so easy for me to vibe with. As though you are all pieces of me. Seriously, I just feel like I’m inside all of you.” Chloe pauses as she distinctly hears Aubrey snort and an almost silent ‘Oh’ from Stacie nearby. 

“Sorry, you guys know what I mean,” she quickly shakes off her miswording, “Whatever. Ok! Staci-”

A loud ‘pop’ sounds off to Chloe’s left, making her as well as a few other people jump. When she sees confetti and paper streamers cascading down around her, she looks over to where Stacie was standing, where the sound had originated. Behind Stacie she sees a beaming Emily holding an empty confetti canister.

Stacie, who had also been shocked by the sudden explosion of celebratory decoration, takes a moment after quickly glancing over her shoulder before she takes a stride forward. She doesn’t pay attention to her heel kicking a pen which appeared to have fallen sometime during the confetti explosion. Chloe hears it spinning across the floor and watches as it stops near her.

“What an introduction!” the HR manager exclaims to Chloe’s left. “I think that’s the first time someone has verbally told me they were inside me and I got a climax out of it.”

Chloe does her best to hold back the furious blush threatening to spread heat across her cheeks. Trying to act normal and ignore the added attention given to her due to the recent transpired events, she places a hand to her chest to keep her jumpsuit in place as she kneels down toward the pen. 

Admittedly, she was not completely invested in paying enough attention to the pen. She hardly noticed another hand reaching for it at the exact same time. When she registered what she was seeing, it was too late to draw back and so, as if in slow motion, her brain slowly recorded the scene of her own hand coming to meet slim, cleanly manicured nails. 

At their contact, Chloe’s eyes trace up the hand’s arm to meet the eyes of the owner of such _soft_ (Chloe’s mind thinks) appendages. There she finds herself connecting to familiar pools of deep, stormy blue. Again she feels something drawing her in to take a swim. A faint smile crosses her lips. 

“Hi,” Chloe breathes. Her eyes dart to observe an upward turn at the corner of lips. A lopsided grin is forming on the delicate yet sharp-featured face of Beca Mitchell, which she has only just now gotten the opportunity to get close enough to make detail of.

“Hi,” Chloe hears the music producer respond. There is a beat that passes. The two women are still and enveloped together in the moment of silence until finally the brunette makes a small, awkward shift. “I, uh, got it.” she says.

“Huh?” Chloe’s eyebrows raise, her eyes widen slightly and her head tilts just a fraction of a degree. 

The grin directed at Chloe grows. “My pen.” 

Chloe’s eyes drop down and land on the pen she’s barely touching. By her calculations, she was certainly holding more hand than pen. “Oh! Right.” She can feel a light blush rising to her cheeks as she lets go and retracts her outstretched arm, leaning back. Her surroundings come back into focus in time for her to recognize Stacie is still addressing the rest of the company from above her.

“I know how much more tempting it must be to bag this irresistible firecracker and discover the extent of her sexual prowess. But! I was told to remind you guys, we need to minimize sexual office flings as much as possible-”

“None at all,” Aubrey clarifies amongst the chuckles and giggles.

Chloe stands up and watches as Beca retreats back to the sofa arm she was previously perched on. With a small smirk on her lips and her pen in hand, she raises the pen slightly. Chloe takes it as an appreciative ‘thanks’ and returns the gesture with a smile accompanied by a head nod. She clasps her hands in front of her body and lends her attention back to Stacie.

“Fine fine. None at all.” Stacie rolls her eyes. “Well, unless you plan to be as cute and sweet as our resident commitment cherubs Benji and Emily.”

The tall brunette turns and smiles widely at Chloe beside her. There is a glint of something mischievous behind her smile, and Chloe can only feel wary. “I will be taking applications for anyone who wants to date Chloe then,” Stacie announces. 

“Nope. Definitely not.” Aubrey is standing up now and shaking her head. “I think that’s it from HR.” Aubrey heads up to Stacie and Chloe. She places a hand on Chloe’s back and gently guides her forward, back to the couch. “Amy? Marketing updates?”

“Well then,” Amy gets up, “exciting campaigns lined up for this upcoming quarter -” she begins. 

\---

The bathroom mirror is fogged with condensation, and the steam from the recent hot shower lingers in the air, clouding the small, mostly porcelain covered room. 

_I know you got what I like_   
_Yeah, I’ve been waiting for somebody_   
_For somebody_   
_Somebody like you_

Chloe’s phone rests on the bathroom counter with music playing at maximum volume. She had yet to change from the high setting which allows her to hear music playing over the crashing sound of pressurized droplets of water. Now that the showerhead was off, the song was resounding within the compact space, amplified by infamous bathroom acoustics.

Chloe stood facing the fogged mirror which was of no use to her in its current state and was massaging her plush towel through wet, freshly showered hair. Her body was already dried down and comfortably wrapped in her light blue bathrobe. She was feeling fresh, clean, and looking forward to the activities of the night despite having been accidentally roped into them earlier that morning.

“Chloe!” Aubrey’s yell is mostly faint, buffered by distance, the closed bathroom door, and Chloe’s music. Somehow the redhead still hears her. 

Chloe lowers the volume on her phone before she responds with a yell of her own. “Yeah?!”

“Emily just texted! She and Stace will be here in about 30 minutes!”

“Oh my gosh, but I just finished showering!”

“Hurry that ass up then!” 

“Damn it.” Chloe cursed under her breath. Her preferred style of getting ready to go out for a night of partying involved a lot of music playing as she progressed from skincare routine, to trying on different outfits, until finally sitting down and doing her make-up. Of course all of this was done with singing and dance breaks thrown in-between. Typically this process would take anywhere from an hour and a half to two hours. Honestly, it was the singing and dancing that took all the time, so really all Chloe ever truly needed was 30 minutes. It’s the fact that she just hated being rushed. 

Grabbing her hair products, Chloe quickly mixes a little hair gel with shine cream and runs her fingers through her hair until she achieves the wet, curly style she had decided on the moment she realized how little time she had. Closing the product containers, she grabs her dirty clothes and heads out of the bathroom. 

Chloe can hear Aubrey shuffling around in the kitchen. She pauses. “What are you wearing tonight?” Although she’s no longer yelling to communicate with her roommate, her voice is raised to stretch across the living room and carry, hopefully, into the kitchen. 

“Black sheer top. Black bra. Black with silver stitches skirt.” Aubrey replies. 

Give or take a few inches of height in difference, Chloe and Aubrey wore relatively the same sizes in clothing. This meant an extended closet between the both of them, sharing clothes here and there. With as brief in description as Aubrey had given, Chloe could clearly imagine exactly what her best friend was wearing. She nodded her head in silent approval , completely aware that the blonde could not see her. 

Rushing to her bedroom walk-in closet, Chloe starts spinning potential outfit ideas in her mind as she rifles through.

\---

Chloe manages to be fully dressed and misting setting spray over her make-up when the buzz of the intercom reverbs through the apartment.

“Chlo! They’re here! You ready?” 

“Yeah!” Chloe does a close-up check in her vanity mirror before standing up and exiting her bedroom. 

“Damn!” Stacie drawls out loudly when Aubrey opens the apartment door. Her eyes are scanning the blonde from head to toe and back up again. “Legal, you look illegal tonight.” she comments. “If my ogling is a crime, please do hold it - or rather yourself - against me. Bring cuffs too.” 

Chloe giggles and can imagine the eye roll Aubrey is most likely giving Stacie as she walks up behind her best friend. 

“Fuck me.” Stacie remarks as her eyes fall onto Chloe. Her eyes widen in acknowledgement of all the exposed skin not covered by the white crop top and leather jacket Chloe has on. Her skinny ripped jeans are hugging her body, holding together and accentuating her curves in all the right places. “Em, call the firehouse. These roommates are setting the place on fire tonight.” 

Emily pops her head around Stacie and lets out a broad grin. “Wow! You two look so good. I wish I looked like that.” 

Stacie turns her head to the youngest and furrows her brow. “Em, sweetie, you are our angel. Do not use these slutbags as role models.” 

“Hey,” Chloe jokingly swats at Stacie. “These slutbags have feelings. At least get me drunk before you insult me.” 

Stacie grins as she fully enters the two bedroom apartment, Emily in tow. They walk with Aubrey and Chloe to the kitchen. 

Stacie raises a case of hard seltzer and places it on the kitchen island. “I hope you guys like our choice in refreshments.” Her head does a casual jerk in Emily’s direction. All smiles, Emily lifts up a bottle of vodka. 

“So much for wine and cheese,” Aubrey laughs. 

“The goal is to get litty titty before we meet Amy and the others at the club.” There is a sound of ripping cardboard as Stacie pulls apart the cardboard casing around the hard seltzer. “Since we are last minute table additions, I figured we should load up on sustenance now. That way we don’t leech off the table bottles.”

“You say that like we can’t get free shots if we just asked around nicely,” Chloe smirks. 

Stacie tilts her head down and pointedly eyes Chloe’s cleavage. “With those lovely ladies out tonight, I wouldn’t be surprised if they completely freed up a table for us - bottles and all.” 

“Should we test our luck?” Chloe grips the collar of her leather jacket from either side and pulls together, causing her breasts to appear more plump and full. 

Stacie gulps the seltzer can she has just cracked open. “Beale, you are officially my new best friend.” 

A laugh bubbles up from Chloe as she accepts the can Aubrey is passing to her. 

Hard seltzers distributed, Aubrey holds up her can, prompting the other three women to do the same. “Bottoms up,” she cheers before throwing her can back and taking a nice long gulp until she cannot handle the carbonation fizzing from the back of her throat up to her nose. 

“Ugh,” she scrunches her face. “Give me the shots instead.” 

“We have an hour to kill. Let’s slow our roll, Aubrey.” Stacie laughs.

Emily perks up. “How about a game of ‘Never Have I Ever’ in honor of this being the first night all of us are going out? I feel like I hardly know you guys, and I want us to be better friends.”

“Alright, but if we have that much time, let’s take this into the living room.” Aubrey grabs the bottle of vodka and four shot glasses before heading out of the kitchen. 

All the women settle on the floor around the coffee table, getting comfortable on the large white rug.

“3 second gulp for every finger you put down because you’ve done the mentioned deed. Chug if all fingers go down.” 

Chloe hums. “A shot and finish your seltzer if all fingers go down” 

“Chugging seltzer already sounds like a harsh enough punishment.” Emily noticeably grimaces.

“Sorry, Em. House rules.” 

“Fair point.” Stacie concedes to Aubrey’s declaration with a shrug. 

No one is affected by the pout on Emily’s face.

\---

The four women had now been playing the game for almost an hour. They were quite a ways into their sixth round of the game now. Stacie had lost three rounds, and the only other loser, Chloe, had lost two. Neither Aubrey nor Emily had found themselves in a round in which they had placed down all ten fingers. Aubrey, however, had taken it upon herself to do buddy shots whenever she chose with whomever the loser of the round happened to be. So the heat that slightly radiated from her body was a result of 4 shots and two seltzers brewing in her system. She did not even linger over the fact she hadn’t lost a single round, but had taken more shots than either Chloe or Stacie, but that was partly influenced by her awareness the other two were ahead of her in chugged seltzers.

Everyone had started off the initial rounds with tame ‘have not’ scenarios. ‘Never have I ever traveled outside of New York’ - Emily’s first statement was met with shock and awe from the other women. They could not fathom how the youngest had gone to the early stages of her life with as little exposure to the world as she had. She explained how she viewed New York as holding such an abundance of colorful personalities, cultural backgrounds, and the frequent tourists that she never felt she needed to go far for more. Upstate New York, where her parents resided, was her break from the hustle and bustle of mass diversity and noise. It was enough contrast she never thought she needed more. 

It seemed a shared sentiment that having these bits and pieces of information to get further acquainted with their coworkers was nice, so the women continued, no one, not even Stacie, pressing on past PG-13 type questions. Each one took time to quickly divulge into short stories or unmasked opinions when the others prompted for more explanation. With each story, everyone was slowly breaking apart their coworkers’ office images, and slowly building fragments of ‘friend’ images.

Now, partially influenced by the liquor in their systems and a little of their new confident comfort around each other, the recent prompts had danced around relationship and sexual topics. Chloe had done everyone the honor of stepping over the invisible threshold, ending the past round with “Never have I ever had sex in the office”. Stacie was the lone culprit with only one finger left up until that point. A slightly mortified Aubrey gaped at Stacie who just shrugged with an unapologetic “Oops” as she downed her third shot, followed by a chug of her fourth seltzer of the night.

They were fairly far into the latest round - Chloe holds 3 fingers up, Stacie is left with 4, Aubrey with 6 and Emily, the safest and most innocent, at 8. 

“Never have I ever lost my virginity to Benji.” Stacie says with a mischievous smirk directed at Emily.

Chloe and Aubrey share a buzz of astonishment when the youngest blushes and puts her finger down. 

“I knew it!” Stacie whooped aloud. 

Shaking off her moment of bashfulness, Emily brings her seltzer can back down onto the coffee table. “Ok, Stace. We’re getting personal now?” 

Stacie grinned and cocked her brow, “Whatcha got for me?”

“Never have I ever kissed another woman.” 

Emily watches as Stacie shrugs indifferently before bringing herself down to 3 fingers.

“Wait, Chloe, did you put a finger down?” the youngest observes. 

Chloe winks, “Of course I did.” She splits her remaining two fingers - her pointer and middle finger - into a V shape and slides her tongue between the empty space playfully.

Stacie’s giggles to Chloe’s left draw the redhead’s attention. There’s a passing moment between the two before they each burst out laughing and share a high-five. 

“Sorry to ruin the bro moment,” Aubrey remarks with a disapproving shake of her head and a sip of her drink. “It’s my turn.” Her eyes narrow as they dart between Chloe’s hand displaying 2 and Stacie’s 3. “Ok, let’s even things up a bit between you two.” She grins as she squarely eyes Stacie. “Never have I ever thought about what Beca is like in bed.” 

Stacie smirks at Aubrey who hadn’t broken their eye contact.“You think you were helping your bestie with that one, huh?”

Aubrey’s grin fades and her eyebrows start to bunch together. “What do you-”

Stacie directs her smirk off of Aubrey and sweeps it over to Chloe beside her. “Well well well,” she tuts, “look what we have here, Aubrey.”

Three pairs of eyes land on Chloe’s hand, which now only holds up her pointer finger. 

“Cheers, lesbro.” Stacie raises her seltzer can and promptly taps it against Chloe’s. 

“Wait, what?” Aubrey questions. “Chlo?”

Chloe shrugs. “She’s like smokin’ hot, and those fingers look skillful.” The statement was delivered with a tone of definity and Chloe’s unwavering gaze to Aubrey’s furrowed brows did not prompt the blonde to push further. 

“Jesus.” Aubrey blinks hard. 

A chime notification breaks the brief silence.

Stacie glances down at her phone. “Oh fuck. Amy said they’re on the way to the club. We have to leave now to meet them up for the table.” 

At Stacie’s declaration, everyone starts to rise. 

“You’re not off the hook though, Chlo. Between you and I, we both know you were about to lose.”

Chloe rolls her eyes. “Please, Conrad. There’s nothing you haven’t done that I have.” 

“Would you bet two shots on that?” 

“Sure.” 

Stacie’s smile is devious, but Chloe is unafraid.

“Never have I ever had a DJ Becks song as my lady jam.” 

Chloe’s jaw drops. She was not expecting that.

“Oh my God. Really, Chlo?” 

Chloe has no response for Aubrey. She just puffs air into her cheeks as she shakes her head with narrowed eyes directed at the maniacally laughing Stacie. 

“Drink up, bitch! We have a club to get to!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Songs lyrics were taken from:
> 
> 1\. Pad Thai - Tjani   
> 2\. Motion - Emotional Oranges (I used a non-EDM song for once) 
> 
> Also, Beca having some involvement with Chloe's lady jams is a staple, and I will never tire over it.


	4. Barden's Night Out

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You guys are really the sweetest. I know we're all our worst critics, but I appreciate everyone's words of encouragement. Honestly the self-consciousness from not writing for a really long time is hard to keep at bay, but I'll do my best and not dwell on chapters too long! 
> 
> As requested, a *little* more Bechloe for you ;)

Chloe’s eyes sweep around the renowned New York City dance club. Even though the expansive and expensively furnished space is cloaked under a thin veil of darkness, her senses are heightened. She feels her pulse keeping in rhythm with the thumping bass. Her vision sharpening each time strobing lights streak, spotlighting various strangers and their features out on the tightly-packed dance floor. She even catches whiffs of cologne and perfume from her table counterparts moving about. The constant, deep vibrations, smartly-dressed patrons, and alluring smells altogether create an atmosphere which coaxes her into a comfortable alertness for what deems likely to be an enjoyable night.

The platform Chloe currently stands on hosts a secluded section, elevated above the rest of the nightclub and shares a space with the DJ booth. Their side is decorated with two plush leather couches and a low table currently populated with fruit bowls, tall containers of various fruit juices, and an ice bucket filled with liquor bottles. Chloe understands Fat Amy was not making light of her reputation in New York City nightlife. Getting a table like this in an exclusive nightclub as Club Run takes the right kind of connections (like a certain DJ for instance). 

Amy had introduced Chloe and Aubrey to her friends - Ashley and a guy that called himself Unicycle. They were also greeted by Luke, Benji and Jesse who were accompanying the Australian as well. 

“Cheers to new friends and hard-to-remember nights!” Amy leads the toast of shots recently poured by their sultry table hostess.

The liquid travels down Chloe’s throat, and maybe it is because the drinks from the apartment had started creeping on her when they entered the club, but she barely tastes the usual bitterness and only feels the slight singe as it flows along its path to her stomach.

Chloe leans in to Aubrey, “I am pretty sure I am hitting a solid tipsy soon and I am not trying to get shit wasted the first night we go out with our coworkers. Remind me to slow down in a bit.” 

“No, bitch. You are the reason we are out tonight. I have full intent and purpose to introduce them to J.J. tonight” 

Chloe draws back from Aubrey with a slight scowl. “Fuck. I was hoping you forgot about that.”

Aubrey breaks out a sickly sweet smile before turning to Amy. “Let’s take another shot to celebrate Chloe!” 

“Hell yes!” Amy agrees without hesitation and motions for everyone to place their cups back down on the table.

As Amy begins filling the cups with the second round, there is a sudden noisy commotion from the crowd.

The same hostess which had served their table is currently directing a group of other beautiful hostesses, flanked by two beefy bouncers through the sweat-cloaked bodies, trying to clear a path through the dance floor. The women’s hands are held above their heads, flashlights flaring and illuminating the area around themselves. Right in the middle of the grouping is Beca Mitchell , her hand held by the lead hostess, being guided through the mess. Following them is Cynthia-Rose. 

Beca is clearly being recognized as people stop dancing and crane their necks to look, some pushing forward to get closer and making it a hard task for the workers to get through. A few people are even holding up their phones, trying to capture the DJ walking by. 

Finally, the platoon of scantily-clad women breach through the crowd and lead Beca and Cynthia-Rose up to the table. The people on the floor below take a few last cursory glances before they return their attention back to the music. With their objective complete, the hostesses, aside from the main one appointed to the table, disperse.

“Now the party can officially begin!” Luke exclaims as he walks over to greet Beca with a hand clasp and pat to the back.

“Didn’t think you’d make it, shortstack! You’re just in time.” Amy grins as she pulls out three new cups on their table.

“I’ve got it, Fat Amy.” Chloe watches as the blonde hostess shoos Amy aside and picks up the opened liquor bottle, continuing to pour where Amy left off.

“Ah, thank you, Jess.” Amy steps aside, making room for the tall blonde. 

Everyone is now standing in a circle around the table and one-by-one accepting the drinks being handed to them.

“She can’t get too drunk tonight, Ames.” Cynthia-Rose speaks warningly. “She’s technically working.” 

“I know I know.” Amy fans her hand dismissively. “She at least has to take this one. We’re toasting to Chloe.” 

“If that’s what it’s for, I can get behind that.” Beca nods and sends Chloe a smile.

A reflexive smile spreads on Chloe’s lips as a result.

“Maybe after a few more of these, you can even get behind her,” the suggestion is not hidden and more blatant when Stacie combines her statement with a wink. “She is single and ready to mingle, ladies and gentlemen. Who cares to step into the ring?”

“Not claiming her for yourself, Stace?” Cynthia-Rose implores with a squint to her eyes.

“Oh, believe me, she tried. I’m just a little too much for what she can handle, though.” Chloe winks. 

There are a few chuckles and ‘Oohs’. 

Stacie sighs dramatically. “She’s a heartbreaker that one.” 

“To Chloe Beale then. May she continue to impress us with her communications savviness and resistance to Stacie’s sexual advances.” Jesse laughs.

“To Chloe!” 

Chloe grins widely and shares quick appreciative glances with those around her. When she finds Beca’s eyes, the brunette smiles and winks at her before throwing her shot back. She bites her lip before she also downs her own along with everyone else.

“Let’s go dance, you guys!” Emily grabs Benji’s hand and starts leading her boyfriend down to the dance floor below. 

“I’m not sure I want to head into that sweaty pit,” there is a note of disdain in Aubrey’s voice as she crosses her arms.

“Oh come on, Legal. You look too good to not show it off on the dance floor.” Stace grabs Aubrey’s hand and begins pulling her away, but not before the blonde attaches Chloe to their little train. 

“I am not suffering down there alone,” Aubrey states to Chloe, who just giggles. 

Chloe has never been phased by dancing in closely-packed places, and she is more than happy to head down to the dance floor to create more distance between herself and the alcohol Aubrey wants to drown her system in.

“CR!” Stacie yells behind and over Aubrey and Chloe’s heads. “Come bump and grind a little before you’re on Beca duty.” 

“Hell yes.” Cynthia-Rose pops a strawberry into her mouth and starts to trail behind them, calling behind her shoulder. “I’ll be back when you’re up, B.” 

“Sure. Go have fun, dude.”

Similar to the mini dance party that broke out in the middle of their office, there was an ease to which Chloe found herself letting loose to dance with her coworkers. Aubrey’s presence helped, even if the blonde would pause with apprehension anytime she felt others accidentally bump into or alongside her. 

“Relax, Bree. We’ll save you if any horndogs approach.” Chloe squeezes Aubrey’s shoulders and tries to massage her into ease.

“Yeah, boo. Just dance!” Cynthia-Rose starts to sway and move her way around until she’s behind Aubrey. Now standing circled by Chloe, Stacie, and Cynthia-Rose, who are all making a scene of blocking off the rest of the dance floor from her, the blonde laughs. She eventually starts to loosen up.

For good measure, Chloe turns her back to Aubrey and fits her backside against Aubrey’s front. She pushes back and moves her hips to the rhythm, slightly bending over and grinding into Aubrey. She reaches back to grab Aubrey’s waists, coaxing the blonde to ride the sound waves with her. 

“Woo!” Stacie eggs Chloe on, bringing herself low to where Chloe and Aubrey are connected. She loudly claps her hands along to the beat, matching each back thrust from Chloe.

“Show us what that ass do, Beale!” Cynthia-Rose cheers.

Chloe hears Aubrey laugh louder and feels a playful slap on her backside, the blonde now freely moving along to the music.

For a while they all continue dancing, sometimes breaking out to sing and half-shout lyrics until Cynthia-Rose announces she has to head back up. 

“I think that means it’s time for more shots.” Aubrey wiggles her eyebrows at Chloe. 

Stacie perks up and claps her hands excitedly. “Did I hear shots?” 

“Shots! Shots! Shots!” Emily cheers as she and Benji follow Stacie.

“Damn it, Bree.” Chloe grumbles, throwing a frown to her best friend.

“You’re going down like the Titanic tonight.” Aubrey smirks as she grabs Chloe’s wrist and starts tugging her back toward the platform.

“I fucking hate that you have a higher tolerance than me.” 

“What can I say? My genetic composition is thoroughbred champion.” Aubrey laughs.

Successfully dragged back to the platform, Chloe finds Stacie already in front of the table standing beside Amy. The Australian is pouring out shots from a different, already opened liquor bottle than the one they had initially drank from (there had clearly been more drinking while the rest of them had been down on the dance floor). 

Jesse is engaged with Luke in a conversation. Both of them seated on the couch with cups of dark liquid in their hands. Amy’s friend Ashley is off to the side giggling about something with the blonde hostess Chloe remembers Amy calling “Jess”. Beca and Cynthia-Rose are speaking to a man dressed in a suit, standing beside the currently performing DJ. Unicycle is nowhere in sight. 

Chloe knows she is tipsy, because with Aubrey no longer directing her, she finds herself unsteadily making her way back to the table. She plops herself down onto the empty couch and flaps the collar of her leather jacket. The air is cooler on the platform where crowded bodies are not obstructing the airflow but has made her aware of just how much heat her body has generated from dancing. However, the quick flaps do not provide an efficient method of cooling down, so she slips the collar of the leather jacket off her shoulders until the jacket only hangs from her forearms and starts fanning at her neck.

“Ow ow,” Stacie catcalls loudly. “Take it all off for me, baby.”

Chloe giggles and sends Stacie a wink as she playfully strikes a pose, pretending to further take off the outer garment.

“Oh baby, don’t stop there!” 

Feeling flirty, Chloe repositions herself into another pose. The sleeves of her jacket are bundled at her wrists, with a lone finger of one of her hands held between her teeth, and a seductive glance is directed at Stacie.

“Dear Jesus!” Stacie places her hands over her heart.

“Work it, Red!” Amy stops her pouring to emit a loud whistle.

Aware that they have attracted the attention of everyone on the platform, Chloe breaks out in a laugh and places a hand protectively across her chest before sticking out her tongue. “Ok ok, no more.” She raises the jacket back onto her forearms, but keeps her shoulders exposed. 

“Get at least two more shots in her, and I promise you that jacket is coming off!” 

“Bree! Stop sharing my weaknesses!” Chloe playfully kicks at Aubrey. The tip of her bootie makes light contact with Aubrey’s thigh. 

Aubrey laughs and sits down besides Chloe, but not before grabbing two shots from Amy. She holds one out to Chloe. 

Defeated, Chloe falls back onto the couch.

“Bottoms up, Chlo!” 

Chloe pouts and reluctantly accepts the drink. When this one goes down, Chloe feels a noticeable warmth in her stomach. 

“How are you feeling, party people?!” the DJ speaks into the microphone. His voice booms around the club and is greeted with enthusiastic cheers.

“I hope you guys are having a great time, but my time with you tonight has come to an end.” There are some ‘aws’ loudly being voiced as the DJ steps aside from the turntable, the microphone in his hand. Suddenly the strobe lights are turned off and the club is pitched into an almost complete darkness. The DJ’s voice continues to boom. “But let me introduce you to a good friend of mine who will be taking excellent care of you now. I am sure you all know her.” He pauses slightly for effect. “Everyone! DJ Becks!” 

There is an evident switch in the atmosphere of the club as a few things happen simultaneously - the strobe lights flash back on, a sudden and loud bass beat pounds through the speakers, and there is an outbreak of screams and shouts.

“Hey, Club Run.” Beca now stands behind the turntable. “I’m feeling a little dirty tonight, and I want you to get dirty with me.” Her hands start to adjust a few knobs on the turntable and she taps onto a color pad. The strong bass beat is matching her speed. She quickens the pace of her tapping finger until it’s almost a blur, while her free hand presses a few other buttons on the controller. When her finger stops its quick drumming, the bass from the speakers is immediately replaced with -

_Bring that ass back like a boom boom boom boom_

A new beat drops in with it and the crowd erupts into more screams and shouts. The energy is even more intoxicating than before. 

Chloe feels the irresistible urge to dance and quickly stands up to do so, her mind almost spinning from the abrupt motion. Wanting to spread the energy pulsing through her body, she pulls Aubrey along with her. 

Up on their platform where they are not crowded by strangers or interrupted by bumping bodies, surrounded instead by familiar, friendly faces and supplied with ample moving space, Chloe is able to make use of the clearance. She lets her body float around, arms wide, feet breezing across the floor, body responding in ebbs and bobs to the invigorating sounds pumping through the speakers.

Beca’s set is clearly being mixed live, but she is seamlessly performing. Able to create her own beats and lead the various songs in her set from one to the next, she somehow combines EDM, Hip-Hop and Pop songs together with ease. The crowd is loving it and she is curating them through endless dancing on the floor below.

Chloe has lost track of how many songs she has danced through now, but she’s worked up a sweat and finally finds the need to completely lose her jacket. She walks over to the seating area and drapes her jacket over one of the couches.

“Need a refreshment?” Cynthia-Rose offers. She’s already pouring orange juice in a cup.

Adrenaline from dancing gone, Chloe becomes aware of how dry her throat is - likely a result of the past however many minutes of her yelling and singing with Aubrey, Amy, Emily and Stacie to Beca’s song choices. She nods her head, “Yes, please.” 

“Hey CR, come here real quick.” Jesse motions for Cynthia-Rose to join him where he sits on the couch with the suited man she and Beca had been speaking to earlier. 

“Sure, give me a second,” she responds to him. 

“Do me a favor?” Cynthia-Rose directs the question to Chloe. “Can you bring this over to Beca for me?” Without being given a chance to respond, Chloe is handed both cups filled with orange juice and left to watch Cynthia-Rose head over to join Jesse.

Chloe sips from her orange juice to coat her dry throat before making her way over to the DJ booth. 

“Jess”, the blonde table hostess, is standing beside Beca and leaning into the DJ, speaking closely to her ear not covered by the headphones on Beca’s head. Chloe watches as a grin breaks out on Beca’s face before the brunette shakes her head. The moment appears almost intimate, so Chloe halts her approach a short distance away from the two.

The blonde catches sight of Chloe and says something in the DJ’s ear again before playfully prodding her side with a finger. Beca shies away from the contact and glances over at Chloe. Her eyebrows raise as if questioning what she is currently seeing - Chloe standing a few feet away with two cups of orange juice in hand. 

Chloe raises the full cup in her hand and points at Beca. 

Beca seems to understand, because she motions her head, inviting Chloe to come over. 

Jess leaves from Beca’s side and smiles at Chloe as she passes. 

There does not appear to be anywhere for Chloe to place Beca’s cup, so she stands a little off to Beca’s side. She does not dare to get close enough to the expensive equipment, but she is close enough to be privy to watch the DJ’s hands meticulously finding and turning knobs at precise speeds. With viewing access to the various motions, Chloe can hear the alterations in the music sounding through the club in time with Beca’s actions. She sees Beca finally press a button and recognizes the transition into the vocals of a new song. 

The DJ touches a few more buttons and finally satisfied with whatever it was she was doing, she turns to Chloe. She cracks a wide grin seeing the space that still separates the two of them. Lowering her headphones to wrap around her neck, she leans a little towards Chloe. “I don’t bite you know. Come step into my orbit.”

“I didn’t want to accidentally cause a mess and destroy your workspace with these,” she lifts up the drinks in her hands again. One cup contains significantly less liquid than the other, “Because if I’ll be honest, I’m a little bit tipsy.” Chloe brings her voice down like it’s a secret and squishes her face slightly. Hearing the hearty chuckle from Beca, she quickly switches to a smile.

“You’re adorable.” the DJ says. “Is that for me?” Beca nods her head at the filled cup.

“Yep! CR asked me to bring this over to you.” 

“Ah, what a lifesaver.” Beca takes the drink from Chloe’s hands, their fingers brushing in the process. “Thank you,” the DJ tips the cup slightly toward Chloe before she takes a nice long gulp and hums in appreciation. “Can you hold this again real quick? I have to give the masses a break before someone dances themselves into a heart attack.” Beca holds her cup back out to Chloe, but she isn’t completely reaching out. The brunette is distracted, searching for something on the small LCD screen of the DJ deck. 

Chloe finds herself having to step closer to take the cup from the DJ’s hand.

With her now free hand, Beca picks up one side of her headphones, squishing it against her ear and her shoulder. Her head bobs to a different beat than what is blasting through the speakers. Eventually, she starts messing with buttons and the mixing pad.

Chloe begins to hear the previously invisible beat Beca was moving to growing and taking over what was previously playing. It is a slower and lower beat and Beca has managed to creep it in.

_Let’s get down. Let’s get down to business._  
_Give you one more night, one more night to get this._

A deep, sultry male voice floats through the speakers.

“That should give everyone a quick breather.” Beca turns back to Chloe, headphones back on her neck and a grin on her face as she takes the cup from the ginger’s hands.

“Have people danced themselves into heart attacks?” Chloe asks. 

“Surprisingly, yes. You would be shocked about some of the things I hear happening out in the crowd because they’re reacting to some song I played.” Beca takes a sip of the cup in her hands and gently shakes her head in disapproval. A look crosses her face like she has disappeared into a memory.

Chloe carefully nudges her. “As our friendly neighborhood Spiderman has said, ‘With great power comes great responsibility’.” 

Beca chuckles, brought back to the moment.

“You are basically a siren, seducing us into moving our bodies to your whim with perfectly interlooped beats.” Chloe adds on.

Beca smirks, “I like the way you describe it. Is that your PR mastery slipping through?” 

“No PR bullshit. That is an honest evaluation from your friendly neighborhood tipsy ginger.” As if her body wants to prove how influenced she is by the alcohol in her system, a quick _‘hic’_ escapes from the back of Chloe’s throat.

Beca turns to Chloe and because it has slowly dawned on the DJ what has just transpired, an endearing smile steadily grows on her lips and brightens her face. 

“Oops,” Chloe giggles and bites the rim of the plastic cup in her hand.

“Wow, you really are adorable,” the DJ compliments with a laugh. Her face is settled with a wide smile, crinkling the corners of her eyes. 

“Thanks!” Chloe chirps and lifts her chin proudly, sharing a wide smile of her own.

“How’s it going, B?” 

Chloe hears Cynthia-Rose’s voice over her shoulder. She turns to look at the recently-arrived woman. 

“Need anything?” Cynthia-Rose asks the DJ.

Beca glances over at her manager and shakes her head. “I’m all good, CR.”

“Cool. Well, let me know if you do. You have 30 minutes left on deck.” 

“Awesome. I have a few songs in mind before I slip in ‘Rumors’ to close off the night.”

“Sounds good, B.” Cynthia-Rose gives Beca a thumbs-up. She then makes eye contact with Chloe. “So Aubrey told me, and I quote, ‘Bring the bubble butt redhead back over here to take some shots before they take the liquor away.’” 

Chloe giggles. “Guess it’s time for this ginger to reload on her jiggle juice.” she shakes her hips and winks at Beca.

“Make good choices!” the DJ calls after her. 

“I can’t be held accountable for whatever you tempt my body into doing,” she yells in response with a wave.

Chloe sees Cynthia-Rose eye her with a raised eyebrow. 

“Wait, that was totes meant in a different way.” 

“Uh-huh.” the narrowed eyes and small nod display just how unconvinced Cynthia-Rose is. 

Chloe giggles and shakes her head, deciding to not try to defend herself any further.

“Beale! Bring that sexy ass of yours over here and drink with us. We’ve been drinking without you.” Stacie is shouting, but her words are blending together. Amy has a hand around the tall brunette’s waist, gripping Stacie to her body. 

“This one is drunk.” The Australian declares. “No more shots for her.” 

“Hey! I’m not drunk.” Stacie’s eyes are drooped and her head sways with each word. Despite her protest, she offers no resistance to Amy and Emily gently guiding her to sit down on the couch.

“You’re right, boo. You’re wasted.” Cynthia-Rose tuts with a chuckle and shake of her head. 

Stacie only grunts and allows Emily to lean her head onto the younger woman’s shoulder.

Emily cradles Stacie’s head with one arm and softly pets her hair.

“Since Stacie can’t take her last shot, I nominate Chloe as tribute.” 

Chloe shrugs, states a quick “Fuck it”, picks up a shot, drinks it, and follows quickly with throwing back another one.

“Jesus, Ginge.” Amy blinks at her in awe. 

Chloe breaks out in a fit of giggles.

“J.J.?” Aubrey tilts her head and eyes her best friend. “Is that you?” 

Chloe raises a hand to signal Aubrey to hush, because something has caught her attention. Her eyes are wide in recognition and her jaw drops when a powerful female voice breaks through the speakers. 

Beca has just switched to a new song. 

“Oh my god!” Chloe near shrieks. Without warning, everyone watches as she runs over to where the petite DJ is standing and plants a kiss on the brunette’s cheek. Her voice carries from the DJ booth where she is vehemently informing Beca that “This song is my jam!” Then she’s briskly walking back over to them, leaving behind a spiritedly laughing Beca Mitchell in her wake. 

“Bree, dance with me!” 

Aubrey giggles because her best friend is asking in her sickly sweet Jiggle Juice Chloe voice. And Aubrey knows one would have to have no heart to deny the redhead breezing back over with a sparkle in her eye and excitement bubbling through her pores what she wants. She reaches out to the redhead and lets the woman spin her around.

_“I’m bulletproof, nothing to lose. Fire away, fire away.”_

Chloe sings along, hugging Aubrey from the back and swaying their bodies (a little unsteadily) to the song.

It does not take long before everyone else in the vicinity is affected by the redhead’s toxic enthusiasm, joining her in the dancing and singing.

Later when Chloe lays down in her bed after Aubrey has made her wash up, she lets out a satisfied sigh because she definitely had a good night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Was that enough Bechloe to hold you off until the next chapter?
> 
> Songs used (I was listening to a lot of Tiesto while writing this chapter):  
> 1\. Boom - DJ Tiesto  
> 2\. The Business - DJ Tiesto  
> 3\. Really? :P


	5. A New Development

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I kinda don't like this chapter? 
> 
> Sorry in advance.

Chloe wakes up feeling her bed dipping and hearing the ruffling of her bed sheets. Her brain - gradually whirring into coherent consciousness - becomes acutely aware of a warmth beside her. With pouty lips and a light furrow of her brows, she turns to inspect the unexpected heat source. 

“Good morning, beautiful.” Stacie winks at her. Laying on her side, hand pinned between the pillow and her cheek, Stacie is gazing at Chloe from the usually vacant space of Chloe’s queen mattress. “Wow. In this light, you are just -” Stacie sighs dreamily.

“What’re you doing in here?” Chloe mumbles groggily before releasing a yawn.

“You don’t remember what happened between us last night?” There is the faintest flash of what Chloe thinks is disappointment before a frown starts forming on Stacie’s face. “Chloe,” Stacie begins almost hesitantly, “why do you think you would be waking up to me in your bed after a night of drinking?”

Startled into thinking she has missed something, Chloe blinks hard. She was certain her last memory of the night was lying down in her own bed, very much alone, and ready to be swept off into pleasant slumber. She urges her eyes to focus clearly on the brunette in front of her. “What? What happened last night?” Chloe leans on her forearms to press herself up. 

Stacie looks up at Chloe; she already looks dejected, but appears even more so when her bottom lip begins quivering. “You’ve forgotten already?” She begins sniffling and hides her face behind her hands. “Last night you told me I was the best you ever had. You - I knew you were a heartbreaker.” A sob breaks through the brunette’s lips.

Giving a quick shake of her head, Chloe forces her mind out of its stutter to fully process what Stacie’s words were implying. She closes her gaped mouth to swallow the dryness in her throat. There was a single implication behind Stacie’s words. Her eyes quickly scan the blanket-covered form of the brunette in her bed; she wills her non-existent x-ray vision to give her insight into whether Stacie was unclothed or not beneath her blanket. “What’re you- Did we -”

Stacie silently, but vigorously nods her head - face still shielded by her hands.

Chloe’s eyes widen. “Oh. my. Gosh.” she mutters. Her eyes are distant and glazed over; she is mentally trying to come to terms with the bombshell development of her and Stacie’s relationship. “Bree is totes going to murder us. Especially if she heard -” 

There is suddenly a choking sound. Stacie’s body is shaking. Her hands are tightly cupped against her face.

Chloe feels her heartbeat quickening; her brain kicking into panic mode. Though she is mentally reeling in shock from Stacie’s revelation to her, it begins dissipating into concern for the brunette physically unable to contain herself beside her. Chloe - unsure how else to console the woman in her bed - places a comforting hand on Stacie’s blanket-covered shoulder. “Stace, I-”

“Stacie, what is taking you so long to wake up Chloe?” Aubrey opens Chloe’s bedroom door and unleashes the smell of pancakes and bacon into the room. “Oh, Chlo, you’re awake. Breakfast is ready.” 

Aubrey’s appearance in Chloe’s doorway does two things. Firstly, it breaks the uncomfortable tension, but sends Chloe into (temporary) confusion because Aubrey is unfazed by Stacie’s presence in her room. Secondly, it draws Chloe’s attention to the fact that the sobbing sounds she previously heard emitted by the quaking brunette beside her actually sound a lot more like snickers. Snickers that grow until Stacie explodes - flipping onto her back with her arms spreading out wide - sending bellowing laughter bouncing off Chloe’s walls. There is not a single streak of tears on her face.

Realization sinking in on her, Chloe’s jaw drops. “Hey!” She shoves Stacie’s shoulder. 

The tall brunette flinches slightly at the contact, but does not curb her laughter. “Whew! That was good,” Stacie dabs at the corner of her eyes and sits up. Chloe’s blanket falls off her torso in the process, exposing that she is clothed and wearing the same top from last night. She is notably not undressed like Chloe previously thought.

“What am I missing here?” Aubrey asks with a small wave of the spatula in her hand.

“Stacie made me think we had sex last night.” Chloe kicks at the giggling brunette from under the covers.

“It was too easy. I couldn’t resist.” Stacie says with a shrug of a shoulder. “You were very sweet for being concerned by the way.” Stacie starts sliding out of Chloe’s bed. She stands up and lets out a long sigh. “Sad to say I spent the night in neither of your beds. I woke up on your couch to the blondie prodding me and asking if I wanted breakfast.”

“Breakfast that is currently getting cold,” Aubrey says with a tightening of her brow. “Come on, bitches.” She whips around.

“Yes, mom.” Stacie salutes at Aubrey’s turned back.

Chloe slips out of her bed to follow Aubrey and Stacie to the kitchen. She releases a loud yawn and stretches her arms up to the ceiling before settling down at the table neatly prepared with morning sustenance - pancakes, sausages, scrambled eggs, bacon. 

A moan passes through Chloe’s lips as she expresses her appreciation for the pleasant smells and visually appealing spread of food before her. “Bree, you are the best.” She does a quick wiggle and starts loading an empty plate with food. 

“Yeah, I know.” the blonde smugly states while taking a seat at the table. “I deserve an award for putting together this beautiful breakfast and dealing with both your drunk asses last night.”

“How did you manage herding us into the apartment?” Chloe asks curiously. 

Chloe knows drunken her - affectionately dubbed JJ Beale - is already a handful. Throughout Aubrey and Chloe’s years of alcohol induced adventures, there have been multiple occasions where Chloe had literally run away from Aubrey screaming about how she was in search of new adventures (sometimes there was no screaming, just running, but always adventure). With effort in part by Aubrey’s hunting or Chloe’s own eventual drunken search for her best friend, Chloe would make her way home by the end of the night.

“I only have flashes of us walking out of the club.” Chloe pauses to give herself a second to try and recall more images from last night, “The next thing I remember is getting ready for bed. The in-between is lost on me.” Resigning from attempting to recollect lost memories, she picks up the syrup dispenser from the table.

“Well, that’s more than me. I don’t remember shit.” Stacie remarks with a quick shrug before she takes a large bite of bacon.

“I’m surprised you don’t remember, Chlo. Considering we stopped by K-town for some food before coming home at your request.” Aubrey eyes Chloe pointedly. “I knew you were bordering wasted after you chugged the rest of the liquor bottle, but did not expect you to actually brown out.” 

Satisfied with her syrup to pancake ratio, Chloe puts down the syrup dispenser she was pouring. She turns her attention back to her best friend. “K-town is impossibly far from where we were last night. It wasn’t even on the way back. Did you call a car just to take us to eat and back home?”

Aubrey shakes her head. “No. Beca took us.”

“What?” 

“Beca drove us. She and CR joined us for food. They helped me get you guys into the apartment.” There was a dull glaze to the way Aubrey spoke matter-of-factly. Unlike her best friend, she did not find the additional information particularly interesting. 

“Beca Mitchell?” 

“Yes. Beca Mitchell. What other Becas were there with us last night, Chloe?” Olive green eyes roll. A mouthful of pancakes gets swallowed. “Thank God for her and CR honestly. They happened to be driving away when they saw me chasing you down the block. You were giggling like a child and shouting about finding ice cream. Really hard to miss.” 

“Where was I in all of this?” Stacie waves her fork in the air.

“Flirting up the police officers outside of the club.”

“Eh.” The brunette purses her lips and - after a brief pause - nods her head. “Not a first.”

“Anyway, Beca offered us a ride. When Chlo could literally not stop talking in her ear -”

A distant memory starts creeping into Chloe’s conscious thought at the mention of Beca’s ear. 

“- about food, she was nice enough to make a pit stop for us.”

Chloe sits back in her chair as the memory Aubrey had spurred in her mind becomes more vivid and clear.

_“Ooh!” Chloe squeals. “Does good music just follow you wherever you go?” She lifts herself from where she is seated in the middle back passenger seat and reaches over the center console. Her hand adjusts the volume knob, increasing it, and filling the leather and dark wood-grain interior of the sports sedan with deep-thudding bass and a soft, airy-like female voice._

_Chloe slides back until she is somewhat situated in the back seat, but she keeps her body leaning forward. She drapes an arm around the driver’s seat and sets her head against the side of its headrest. A (very cute) ear with multiple piercings is directly in her line of sight. “Say the word and you know I’ll follow. Off the grid in the El Dorado.” Chloe sings along - her lips quite close to the shell of Beca’s (Did Chloe mention it is very cute?) ear._

_The car is brought to a halt when a taxi suddenly merges in front of their lane._

_“Motherfucker.” Chloe hears Beca curse under her breath; the brunette’s right arm had instinctively reached out toward Cynthia-Rose the moment she had to brake - blocking off the space over the center console._

_Chloe was sent slightly lurching forward as a result of the change in motion; the shift brought her head almost to the side of Beca’s face. She inhales to ease her muscles which tensed up from the jolt and finds a refreshing deep scent of lavender mixed with amber trickling through her nose. She thinks the soothing muskiness washing over her senses and warmly settling in the pit of her stomach has just become one of her favorite fragrances. Right as Chloe is about to voice her thoughts, there is a tug on the sleeve of her leather jacket. She turns her head and is met with Aubrey looking at her with mild concern._

_“Chlo, sit back.”_

_“No, I like it up here. It smells good.” Chloe giggles._

_“It’s not safe. You could go flying through the windshield.”_

_“Beca wouldn’t let that happen.”_

_“Still.” Aubrey sighs, “I’ll get you ice cream if you sit back.”_

_Chloe shakes her head. “I don’t want ice cream. I want food.”_

_“What? You were running around looking for ice cream earlier.”_

_“I’m hungry now.”_

_“I can make you food at home.”_

_“But I want Korean BBQ. Oh my gosh,” Chloe moans as her mind drifts, imagining the smells and tastes of the food she found herself craving. Unsatisfied with the significant absence of all such senses from her reality, she lets out a small whine and pouts her lips, “Can we please get KBBQ?”_

_“No, Chlo. Beca is probably tired from DJ’ing. She’s already doing us a huge favor by taking us home.”_

_Chloe huffs at her friend and turns her head forward. Once more reaching over the center console, she turns the volume down. She again presses herself against the driver seat and gently pokes the cheek so very close to her own. She smiles when Beca turns towards her touch._

_“Hi,” Chloe chirps._

_“Hi.” Beca keeps her head mostly forward - eyes on the road - but she gives Chloe a small head nod. One of the earrings dangling from her multiple ear piercings jostles from the motion._

_Cool metal brushes under Chloe’s finger when she absentmindedly reaches out to touch the moving earring. “Are you tired?” she asks._

_A thoughtful hum while Beca signals and switches lanes is Chloe’s only clue that Beca heard her. “No. Not at all.” the brunette eventually answers._

_“Would you like to go get KBBQ?” Her hand reaches out and lands unceremoniously on Cynthia-Rose’s shoulder. “Would you and CR like to get KBBQ?”_

_Cynthia-Rose looks up from the cell phone she was tunneled into. She turns toward Chloe. Dark brown eyes soak in the sight of the loopily smiling redhead and a chuckle rises from the manager. “How about it, B? I could do with some food, and your day is pretty clear tomorrow.”_

_“Twist my arm why don’t you. Let’s go get some KBBQ.”_

_“Yes!” Chloe squeals. She places a quick peck on Beca’s cheek and sits back. She wiggles in her seat, accidentally bumping the sleeping Stacie who just huffs and repositions herself._

_“Sorry about this one. Alcohol makes her completely forget about boundaries.”_

_Chloe’s spirited reaction to Beca had apparently captured Cynthia-Rose’s complete attention, because the manager disregards both the apology and the embarrassed look Aubrey directs at her. She was fully turned around in her seat and, with a lopsided grin pulling at her lips, was silently scrutinizing Chloe. There is a noticeable glimmer of amusement in her brown eyes as she studies the redhead for a brief moment. The grin on her lips grows wider before her gaze flicks over to Beca. “Adorable, huh,” she comments in Beca’s direction._

_The music producer clears her throat, but does not make any remarks to respond to her manager._

_Lightly laughing, Cynthia-Rose readjusts herself until she is properly sitting forward in her seat; her phone back at attention._

_“Chlo, tone down the kisses.” Aubrey lowly murmurs and nudges the redhead busy snuggling against her side._

_“But we’re getting food.” Chloe relays with a grin and wide eyes, peering up through her long lashes at Aubrey._

_Aubrey shakes her head and sighs.  
_

“Whoops.” Chloe giggles. “I sort of remember that whole car and food moment now.” She bites her lip and shrugs, “JJ wasn’t too out of control compared to normal though.” 

“Um. Sorry. I am not sure if this is a result of me being stupid wasted last night, but who is JJ?” Stacie questions. 

The kitchen fills with Aubrey’s loud laugh.

“JJ is Chloe’s drunk alter ego.” Aubrey explains after calming down.

“Oh, but wait. Why JJ?” 

“Because at our first college party together, Chlo referred to alcohol as her jiggle juice. She wasn’t wrong about it either. The more alcohol you get in her system, the more energetic and bouncy she becomes. She has definitely won a fair share of drunken bar dances through the years.” 

“This is all very interesting information to me. Are there any other things about JJ I need to know?” 

Aubrey hums. “Well, she also tends to overstep personal boundaries. It gets really funny when she does it with strangers, but if it happens to be people we work with,” Aubrey trails off and shivers. “Yeah, watching her give drunken kisses to coworkers, especially award winning music producers, gets a little grey area for me.”

“Groupie drunkenly kissed who now?” Stacie straightens up and eyes Chloe with amazement. “I cannot believe I missed this. So scandalous!” she exclaims and leans toward Chloe. “You went to second base with DJ Becks? Oh my gosh, is she team Chloe now? I knew you would be too much for her to resist; she would have to be secretly married, some level of asexual or celibate -”

“Whoa, Stacie. Calm your tits.” Aubrey tries to rein in the excited brunette.

“Calm my tits?” Stacie repeats with disbelief. “I have spent the past three years trying to get that petite package of mouthwatering goodness to show some level of sexual interest in anyone. Literally anyone. And now I come to find that what I needed was her to have one drunken night with this irresistible ginger. I need all of the details!” 

Aubrey raises a hand. “Before you get more worked up, these were cheek kisses. Like I said, Chloe has a habit of getting up in people’s personal spaces when she’s drunk, and I think it was evident to everyone last night. I would not think too much about it.”

Long brown hair is tossed from side to side as Stacie shakes her head. “I don’t think you understand. I do not think I have ever seen Beca Mitchell even be a recipient of a cheek kiss. This is huge! This is progress!”

Stacie’s enthusiasm makes Chloe laugh. 

“Chloe. Seriously. This is no laughing matter. I want to make you an offer.” Stacie straightens out and folds her hands over the table. 

“Oh God. Here we go again.” Aubrey rolls her eyes. “Let me save you some time. The answer is already no.”

“Shut the fuck up, Posen.” 

Chloe quickly glances between Aubrey and Stacie. There is an undeniable tension in the air she would normally attempt to diffuse if her curiosity was not already piqued. “What offer?” she questions. 

Aubrey huffs and crosses her arms across her chest. The expression on her face can only be described as unamused. Meanwhile, Stacie sits directly across from Chloe, looking very much poised and oddly professional with a buzz of eagerness. The sight throws Chloe off; she adjusts her back to sit more upright.

“Chloe, let me ask you - what are your long-term goals for working at Barden Records? I am assuming you want to gain experience and progress in the Music PR career track, right?” 

“Well, yeah.” Chloe answers with a quick shrug of her shoulder.

“Would you say success in the Public Relations field has to do with having the right connections?”

“Not completely, but it is an important aspect,” Chloe nods.

“For someone as new as yourself. For someone still trying to stake their claim in the field. It would be insanely helpful, correct?”

“Yes, I would say so.”

Stacie’s composure breaks when she grins wickedly. Catching herself, she clears her throat and recomposes herself; her face morphing back to a semi-neutral state. “I have been working with Barden Records for three years, but I have five years of experience in the music industry world. So many people have come and gone through the HR tunnels I have had the privilege of overseeing. I can confidently assure you I have made some key connections someone such as yourself would be interested in knowing. Not to mention the years of partying with Fat Amy which have sparked more relationships than what Flo - bless her heart - possibly has.” 

Blue-green eyes squint and plump pink lips purse before Stacie continues, “I think you and I are both very aware Flo has a traditional approach to generating and fostering relationships. The thing is, the music world is filled with creatives who are nonconventional. They bond over _other_ channels. Channels I am intimately familiar and active in.” Stacie pauses. “Chloe, if you help me, I am offering to be a bridge to introduce you to these people and those channels. All it is going to take from you is some light flirtation and laying of bait to see if Beca bites.” 

“Great sales pitch, but you wasted your breath. Chloe isn’t going to do it. Right, Chloe?” Aubrey looks at her redheaded friend expectantly, but Chloe’s sole focus is Stacie who sits across from her.

“How do I know these will be guaranteed, fruitful relationships?” Chloe asks with a cocked brow.

“I only said I would make the introductions. However you develop and maintain these relationships is completely your prerogative.” Stacie responds.

Chloe hums and taps her fingers atop the dining table. “Give me some examples of who you would be introducing me to.” 

Stacie opens her mouth to respond -

“Enough!” Aubrey stands up with her hands half-raised. “Chloe, I cannot believe you would even entertain this.” She looks down at her best friend with disappointment etched on her face. Her palms flatten on the tabletop as she leans down. “I cannot allow you guys to do this. I’m shocked you guys are even discussing this in front of me. This is a horrible idea! Always has been.” Aubrey glares at Stacie; the muscles in her face tighten. 

“Posen, please. Take the legal stick out of your ass for one second. I am not asking Chloe to sleep with our sexy little DJ. All I am asking is for her to lay a little temptation down. What is the harm in that?”

“Would you like me to discuss the problematic ethics involved alone?” Aubrey’s face pinches together. “Not to mention it still falls under sexual harassment.”

“What if none of it happens in the office? What if these advances occur when we’re all out partying?” Stacie rests her chin in her hand and looks up at Aubrey. “Our office parties together. People get drunk and do drunk things. Shit happens.” she says with a short nod.

“No. It doesn't matter where this happens. The fact it is even happening already is wrong. This is your coworker we’re talking about.” Aubrey glances between Stacie and Chloe and shakes her head. “For serious though, if either of you brings this shit up again, I will write you up and hand deliver my report to Jesse. I am sure he would love to hear how his best friend, major artist, and main producer is the subject of a childish game.” 

The stern glare Aubrey directs at both of them is cold and charged with a fierceness Chloe recognizes from their days of college acapella co-captainship. A line had clearly been drawn and Aubrey would make good on her promise of swift and proper repercussions for crossing it.

Stacie lets out a long sigh and picks up her fork. She looks resigned; Chloe is grateful the brunette has the awareness to not test Aubrey’s patience. “Fucking hell, Legal. My next obsession is about to be how good you are at giving oral, because you sure know how to suck the fun out of everything.” 

“How are you always so inappropriate?” Aubrey rolls her eyes. 

Stacie cocks her head to the side and sends Aubrey a playful wink, “You are just unaccustomed to someone of my caliber. They don’t quite make them like me, baby.” 

Chloe giggles. Aubrey sighs as she takes her seat. And just like that the earlier tension fizzles. 

With an ease back into friendly comfort, the three women continue eating breakfast together.

In their silence, Chloe’s mind drifts to her vague memories of last night - particularly those associated with Beca. Thanks to her inebriation, most of her memories are blurry, but Chloe can somehow clearly hear the chime of the brunette’s laugh. She can still see the star-like glimmer in Beca’s dark blue, velvet sky eyes. Her nose even holds a faint trace of the smell of the music producer’s perfume. However it's the ghost of the softness of Beca’s skin against her lips that sits at the forefront of Chloe’s mind.

Chloe bites her lip as she pushes a piece of bacon across her plate.

\---

The meeting table Chloe sits at with Flo has been more or less quiet for the past two hours.

Both women have been working diligently since they returned from lunch - Flo busy sending emails to reconfirm scheduled appearances and outlining interview preparation prompts for various Barden Records’ artists; Chloe focusing on reading through and studying the record label’s history of management specific to different artists. Chloe would interrupt their silence every now and then to ask Flo clarifying questions on the intent and strategy behind statements released around the certain handling of events. Aside from those few conversations, the two had mostly tuned out the sounds of the vibrant office around them. 

“I like to see my PR team looking ever the picturesque vision of hardworking.” 

Chloe glances away from her laptop and finds Jesse Swanson, standing at the side of the meeting table in a navy sweater and khaki pants with his light brown hair as curly as ever. 

“Yes, we are a duo tasked with handling the image of a rather successive record label and its very long list of artists. Working hard is all we have time for.” Flo answers. Her eyes never leave her laptop screen; the continued clicking as she types sounds almost furious with the way her hands fly across the keyboard.

A guilty, tight-lipped smile forms on Jesse’s face. He inhales a hiss of air through his nose. “I already authorized the budget for outsourcing work. You are free to dip in there and reach out to whoever you need, Flo.” 

Flo waves a hand in the air. “Yes, yes, but as we discussed before - there still exists a good handful of top revenue-generating artists that feed into the label’s image as a whole. As such, we should be handling their PR in-house.” Her waving hand stops to press her glasses further up the bridge of her nose. “You know I would rather go through another 7 years of diarrhea before giving up the PR management of those acts.”

Chloe froze and stared, wide-eyed at her mentor. She had never expected such vulgarity to casually spew from the Latin woman’s mouth and in front of their CEO no less. Potentially more shocking to Chloe was seeing how undisturbed Jesse was by the Senior publicist’s choice of words. He stood by and chuckled heartily. 

“Don’t worry, Flo. I know we would have to pry that portfolio from your cold, dead hands.”

Flo nods. With a loud, precise pressing of a single keystroke, Flo releases a stream of air through her nose. “Alright. Done with that. I think it’s time for our discussion in the Bullpen. This is why you approached us, yes?” For the first time since he made his presence known, Flo glances at Jesse.

The CEO checks the watch on his wrist and nods. “Right as always.” 

Flo grins and shuts her laptop. “Chloe, come.” 

“What?” Chloe perks up. “What’s happening?” 

“Bullpen meeting. Let us go.” 

Chloe hastily shuts her laptop and brushes down her polka-dotted blouse - ensuring it's neatly tucked in - before she scrambles to fall in step behind Flo and Jesse. The two are discussing their weekend and not giving her a single clue as to why they were heading to the Bullpen. 

Jesse holds open the glass door leading into the office space he shares with Benji and Beca, allowing Flo and Chloe to step in before him. 

The first thing Chloe takes in about the space she has only ever seen from the outside looking in is the drumming of music playing through speakers stationed on the desk lined with music equipment - Beca’s. Unlike the usual electronic music she has become accustomed to hearing around the music producer, it is a Pop song filling the office. The music producer in question is lazily seated in her plush leather chair - shoes off, sitting cross-legged with her head lolled back. 

“She is certainly very pretty.” Benji seems to respond to a discussion they have just walked into the middle of. He bounces a red rubber ball over to Beca who catches it deftly with her right hand. 

“Very pretty?” The scoff comes from Bumper laid out on the couch, previously not visible from an initial glance in the Bullpen. “Only a nerd such as yourself would be unable to appreciate her. She is beautiful. Gorgeous. A specimen to behold.” Bumper sits up on the couch and looks pleadingly over at Beca. “Please reach out to her and request she collaborate on a song with you, Mitchell. Bless us with her presence like only you would be able.” 

Beca laughs. “I doubt she would even work with me. I am too under the radar to get that kind of attention. I could probably request to remix one of her songs, though. This new album is not too bad. A little too similar in rhythm on a lot of these tracks for me to consider the whole album a hit but still not bad.” She rolls in front of her desk and slightly increases the volume to the song that is playing. 

_“I admit it’s exciting. Parts of me kinda like it. But before I lead you on, tell me what’s your motive.”_ Ariana Grande’s voice sweeps through the speakers accompanied by a few deep bass hits. 

“Yeah, I could definitely work with this one. Make it a nice House mix.” Beca bounces the rubber ball against the wall; Benji has to reach over his head to catch it. 

“Did I just hear my favorite music producer say she is too under the radar?” Flo crosses her arms. 

Beca’s head shoots upright and she spins her chair to face Flo, now aware of additional presences in the room. “My status on or under any radar is of my own fault and lacking talent. They have nothing to do with the skills of the lovely publicist I am lucky enough to have handling the shit storm I leave in my wake.” 

Flo’s laughter is light. “You believe your business is a shit storm? You are nothing compared to the hurricanes and tsunamis the Jungle Clan leave for me to deal with weekly. I found more entertainment in the five executions I have witnessed firsthand than what they put me through.” 

Chloe blinks, processing the bits of information Flo has just relayed. If anyone else found the Latin woman’s words shocking, they did not seem to show it. 

“What’s up, Flo? Was there a report you were expecting from me?” Bumper questions. 

“If I were looking for you Bumper, I would not have come here. Though, finding you here does answer why I would be waiting on a report from you if I were, wouldn’t it?” Flo rolls her eyes as Beca and Jesse snicker. 

Grumbling, the Digital Marketer crosses his arms and leans back against the couch. 

“No, we are here because Jesse brought up an idea and we wanted to bounce ideas with you, Beca.”

“What’s that now?” Beca catches the ball Benji has just passed back over to her.

“As we are all quite aware, Flo has been juggling a very heavy plate.” Jesse crosses the room and sits down in his desk chair. “Chloe here,” Jesse nods in Chloe’s direction, “was brought on board to help Flo with that plate.” The thump of the bouncing ball as it gets passed to Jesse interrupts the man from speaking for a second, “Flo has been telling me she has left Chloe to handle correspondence with some media channels for Alexandra’s promotions. Chloe has even organized some promotional appearances using her own network. With what Chloe has displayed so far, Flo thinks Chloe can be trusted to represent an artist all on her own. Out of all the actively promoting artists we have at the moment, most are either too new to the industry or too much trouble for a newcomer to manage.” Jesse bounces the ball against the ground in the direction of his cousin who receives it with ease. 

Beca gently shakes her head at Benji, who looks like he was about to fire the ball in her direction. Her eyes land back on Jesse, and she watches him expectantly, as if she knows there is something at the tip of his tongue. Instead, it is Flo that speaks up and draws her attention.

“There is one particular artist we kept coming back to. Someone Jesse and I both think would be a perfect fit for providing Chloe with the right exposure and help her gain experience without too much stress. This is an artist that is working on releasing a few singles in the coming weeks, if I’m not mistaken, so I have time to train Chloe up some more beforehand. I would continue overseeing Chloe's work, of course. But thankfully, they are not such a pain in the ass when it comes to media relations, so not much oversight would be needed on my part anyway. My plate would be considerably lighter if this person were to agree.” 

Beca laughs knowingly. “Is that so?” 

Chloe’s eyes dart between Jesse, Beca and Flo. The fact that they were discussing her career opportunity in front of her meant she was heavily invested in the discussion. Her attention is so locked in that she practically jumps when she feels something roll into the side of her heel; the red bouncy ball that had been passed amongst the occupants of the room is settled at her foot - Bumper missed the ball Benji had passed to him. 

Straightening out after picking up the ball, Chloe hears the rolling of wheels approaching her. Beca, still seated in her chair, is pushing herself over to where Chloe stands.

Chloe takes a tentative step forward to reduce the distance Beca has to travel and places the ball into the music producer’s outstretched palm. Imposing dark blue orbs look up at her, and despite her towering over the seated brunette, Chloe finds herself working to not shrink under the gaze that shoots heat through her body. 

The endearing grin on Beca’s lips does not help Chloe’s cause.

“What do you think, Chloe Beale? Do you want to be stuck with me on a daily basis, coaching me through press events and accompanying me to stuffy public appearances?”

“I - I would be honored.” Chloe nods and gulps.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Gross shivers. Had to get through this hump to get to where we want to go.
> 
> Songs:  
> Off The Grid (Autograf remix) - Alina Baraz  
> motive - Ariana Grande


	6. DJ Becks 101

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Um. I know nothing about Public Relations or being a Music Publicist. Let's all just pretend together. Also, imagine Flo is the oldest 'Bella' in this universe. Age ain't nothin' but pretty much non-existent and unimportant here. Cool? Cool.

“Before we begin to air out all of my dirty laundry–we double-checked that she signed an NDA, right? I need to know we can bring down raining fire should anything we discuss ends up getting leaked.” The words are spoken firmly. Dressed in all black (blazer, pin-striped blouse, and skinny jeans), Beca, with a twitch to her jaw and a stern gaze trained on Chloe, is a daunting presence in the meeting room.

To say Chloe is taken aback by this grave-mannered version of the music producer seated beside her could be considered an understatement. Not a single prior encounter with the brunette hinted Beca had such a persona.

Chloe, unsure how to respond, is spared from floundering when Flo tuts, “Hush, you. You’re going to give the poor woman an aneurysm.”

The chuckle that bubbles from the music producer’s petite frame shakes away the tense air Chloe felt constricting around her. Able to take a breath, Chloe reintroduces oxygen to her system and feels her body ease in gratitude.

“I’m sorry. That wasn’t funny at all.” Though offering an apology, a wide grin takes residence on Beca’s face.

Despite Chloe’s nerves still working to calm themselves, Chloe finds herself thinking Beca, with a light-hearted expression, looks quite charming–even if the brunette’s humor is fueled at Chloe’s expense. “Oh! Um–That’s okay,” Ginger curls shake, and Chloe shifts in her seat with a smile.

“The first piece of advice I have for you is to not give this child too much leeway. Before you know it, she will be in possession of your kidney and listing all other organs on the black market.” Flo eyes Chloe warningly, “It has happened before. Not with her, but it has happened. Keep her on a tight leash or suffer the consequences.”

The effect of Flo’s words manifest into visible concern on Chloe’s face.

“Dude. I think you’re the one scaring her.”

“No.” the senior publicist bristles. “I am _preparing_ her, which is why we are here anyway.”

The three women were gathered around a round table in one of the back office meeting rooms. After a few weeks of shadowing Flo as she attended interviews and events with other label artists, Chloe was supposedly ready for the transition to becoming Beca’s lead publicist. Chloe was not entirely sure if ‘ready’ was the appropriate term, but she was sure as hell going to do her best to–as she so eloquently worded to Aubrey–not fuck up.

Flo places a folder on the table. With a quick clearing of her throat, she turns to Chloe. “As lead publicist for Beca, there are some things you should remain consistent about to uphold her image.”

A humored scoff sounds to Chloe’s left from where Beca is seated. Chloe swivels her head to investigate.

The music producer is casually propped in her chair, elbow resting on the seat back, and other hand softly drumming the table. “Bold of you to assume I have an image worth upholding,” Beca says with a wink.

“Beca,” Flo admonishes, “we both know how much weight your success and reputation holds for the public’s overall view of the record label.”

“Yeah, yeah. Poster child or whatever. I get it,” Beca waves her drumming hand. “Aren’t these basically guidelines about how I need to continue being on my best behavior? There is nothing Chloe has to worry her pretty little head over.”

“Well, I should still align with you. To know how to present you. Know how you want to be presented.” Chloe interjects into the conversation.

Flo nods her head in agreement to Chloe. “Besides, this is about as good a time as any to make sure your existing public persona is how you would like to continue being perceived.”

Beca sighs. “Yay, sounds so fun,” she says without a trace of enthusiasm. She leans forward– air puffed in her cheeks–and cups her chin in her palm; the corner of Chloe’s lip twitches at the sight.

Flo rolls her eyes and shakes her head lightly. “See. Child,” she reiterates to Chloe before she opens the folder, shuffling through the small collection of papers.

A piece of paper with a notably dated picture of Beca paper-clipped to its corner is slid toward Chloe. “First things first. We need to solidify your knowledge of her background.” Flo leans in as they share a view of the sheet between them. “Beca Mitchell–also known as DJ Becks–is the main, notable act for Barden Records. She started her music career as a Junior Music Producer for Titanium Studios straight out of high school, but following the release of her first digital EP–”

“Miss me,” Chloe murmurs.

Flo glances up at Chloe. “Yes. ‘Miss me’,” she narrows her eyes momentarily before returning her attention to the piece of paper, “which features vocals from now-icon ‘Calamity Jones’, her production skills as an individual artist circulated through the Electronic Dance Music circuit with high acclaim. ‘Miss Me’ topped popular music streaming charts and earned Beca her first Billboard Award at just nineteen years old. Shortly after, Beca was signed on to Barden Records as an artist under the stage name DJ Becks. Since then, Beca has been continuing to see success and recognition as a DJ– performing at the country’s hottest nightclubs and headlining internationally-recognized music festivals.”

Flo’s fingers trace down a block of text scratched out on the piece of paper. Returning to unedited words, the woman continues, “Beca currently assumes the role of Head Music Producer of Titanium Studios in addition to operating as Barden Records’ Chief Music Engineer. Rounding her portfolio as a music producer, DJ, and independent record label executive.”

Not bothering to hide her boredom, Beca speaks up. “Chloe could look all this up through Wikipedia.”

A stern gaze shoots across the round table. “Who knows what people write about you on Wikipedia. The internet is not a completely trustworthy place. If one is easily able to connect with human traffickers and contract killers, you should stay wary.”

Beca slightly frowns, “I don’t know about ‘easily’–”

“Yes. Easily.” Flo stares back at the music producer unflinchingly.

“Uh. Ok then,” Beca nods her head slowly and leans back in her chair–away from Flo.

“As I was saying,” Flo huffs; her eyes land back on the paper.

Chloe bites back a smile when the music producer sends her a look. She is stuck between whether it communicates _’Oops’_ or _’Yikes’_. Regardless of what Beca means, Chloe cannot deny how it makes her want to laugh. When Flo picks up again, Chloe tries not to jump from being startled into returning her attention to her mentor.

“Despite her multiple Grammy nominations resulting from producing successful albums in the Hip-Hop, Rock and Pop genres, which have spearheaded acts like ‘The Jungle Clan’, ‘Sea Sleep’ and ‘Thorne’–respectively in those categories–to household names, Beca is most often associated with EDM where, as both a DJ and music producer, she has gold and platinum ranked records, multiple awards, and two Grammys under her belt.”

Palm pressing down where Flo is reading, Chloe turns to Beca again. “Does that bother you?” she asks. “Even though–regardless of the genre–you’re clearly a skilled and talented music producer, people bucket you into a singular style.”

Beca’s shoulders raise in a shrug. “Not really. EDM is my bread and butter when I’m performing, but the label’s artists trust me as a producer. They still come to Titanium when they need to record their albums and tracks. I think that counts for something when the studio is not officially tied to the label,” she pauses, “or maybe they come because they know they’ll get a sick discount,”she continues with a chuckle.

Chloe lightly shakes her head. “I’m positive discounts are the last thing they are thinking about when they reach out to work with you.” She speaks sincerely with her eyes locked to Beca’s grey-blues.

Silence falls between them until a funny twist in Chloe’s stomach spurs her, “Anyway, I was just checking. I want to make sure you’re able to pursue any and every avenue that interests you.”

“Sure.” Beca nods. “Thank you for checking in,” her lips tug upward at their corners. “If I feel like I’m missing out on something, I’ll let you know.”

Chloe smiles. “Awes, because I want us to have open communication. Expect a lot more ‘just checking’ questions, while I work to pick apart your brain and heart. I want to know your goals, passions, fears. Your process and inspirations in creating music. But even outside of music– what do you find enjoyable and what you don’t. Tell me all of it. Everything.”

Beca’s brow arches, amusement on her face. The switch of air in the room activated by the sudden energy spewing from Chloe was not missed by any of the women.

Chloe laughs in recognition of her own excitement. “Sorry if I am being overly ambitious. I just feel like I should know all these things to represent you to the best of my ability.”

For the past few weeks, Chloe had spent a lot of time thinking over how she wanted to approach being Beca’s publicist. With the bit of Beca research she conducted, it became apparent there was not much information pertaining to the DJ outside of her music and career. Every interview Chloe watched–and even those were minimal–focused solely on Beca’s music. No one ever delved into her personal life.

Diving so far as into Beca-centric fan forums and blogs (for professional research purposes, of course), Chloe was given the impression that Beca’s music was popular, but there was a noticeable lacking connection between the DJ and her fans. They were hungry for personal Beca content, but there was minimal available. Chloe had settled with herself to get the DJ to open up more, so she might be proactive about assisting the DJ with fostering a better relationship with her fanbase.

Flo’s hand covers Chloe’s. “Nothing to be sorry for. You are right. Truthfully, you are already doing better than I. We weren’t necessarily afforded the luxury to do all that for Beca when she first started out. All things considered–” The senior publicist trails off when Beca clears her throat with a cough and shifts uneasily. “Anyway, you’re on the right track, Chloe. And you’ll be in good hands, Beca.”

With a tight-lipped grin, Beca nods in agreement. “I believe so too.”

A few quick pats land on Chloe’s hand, then Flo shuffles the papers to draw a different sheet out. “Now that we are all aligned in terms of Beca’s background, I suppose we can move on to Beca’s public persona and media management. Considering this was established seven years ago, feel free to let us know if anything needs to be corrected, Beca.”

“Seven? Jesus, dude. We’re old.” Beca scrunches her face. The slightest scraping of metal against concrete sounds from Beca shuffling in her chair to scoot closer to Chloe and Flo.

Flo hums, scanning over the paper. “I guess I must have let you write everything when we drafted this, Beca.”

“Oh?” the music producer leans in. 

“Yes, the word choice here is quite interesting.” An amused chirp is produced by the senior publicist, “ _Abso-fucking-lutely no entertaining conversations related to other record labels. Let it be known Beca Mitchell is fucking loyal. Unlike some people, she understands that loyalty is key._ ” Flo reads off in a voice completely different from her own–accent barely present.

“Dude. Were you drunk when we went over this? You let me put that onto a professional document?”

“Hey, we were both really young.”

“ _I am not a slave to the masses. I will put my foot down when I’ve had enough. You can fight me for all I care._ ” Beca looks almost impressed with her younger self. “Young Beca was pretty scrappy, huh?”

“It can be argued you are still scrappy. Maybe even more so now. You’re just extremely tactful about it these days.”

Beca appears satisfied with Flo’s response. “I can roll with that.” she says with her lips pressed together, and her head nodding in approval.

Flo continues, “ _Don’t ever let those nosey pricks ask me about celebrity crushes or my dating life. Fuck dating. Love is lame._ ” with a quick shake of her head, Flo does not bother to read the rest and tosses the paper to the side. The soft _‘scratch’_ as the sheet lands and brushes across the other end of the table is overpowered by Flo’s loud sigh. “I think it is safe to say we should draw up a new media management plan. But I want to make sure we discuss Alexandra’s upcoming album release party. It is next week after all. Will you guys be fine to strategize the media plan on your own later?”

“Oh, totes. We can handle that without you.”

“‘Totes’, yeah.” Beca slightly chuckles. “Works for me.”

“Fantastic.” Flo shuts the portfolio and shifts it towards Chloe; the redhead slides the folder more surely in front of herself.

“Beca, are you still live performing your remixes of Alexandra’s songs at the release party?”

“That’s the plan.”

“Great. I had prepared a press release announcing your guest performance, so we are all set to go on that front. We still need the press kit for when you upload those remixes to the streaming services.”

“Is there anything I can do to help with that?” Chloe questions.

“I was going to mention it may be good to have you take over the handling of the EPK.”

“That sounds aca-awesome. When is the release date?”

“We decided on two weeks? Following the album drop.” Flo gives Beca a questioning glance. The music producer does nothing to refute her given timeline.

Chloe mentally calculates in her head. Three weeks. Based on Chloe’s knowledge, it would be exactly enough time for her to draft something up and correspond with media contacts for coverage. “Would I be able to listen to these tracks sometime soon then?” Chloe’s question is directed at Beca.

“I am supposed to go over to the studio and meet Luke to finalize which songs I want to move ahead with sometime later today. If you’re free, you should come with. Maybe you can even help me make a decision.”

“Considering you are supposed to be my only business these days, I am pretty sure I’ll be free.”

Flo shuffles beside Chloe. “As soon as you finish those edits, will you be sending them to Alexandra? I was thinking it may be good to have her perform the vocals alongside you. That should promote some good press coverage for the both of you.”

“Good point.” Beca purses her lips, “Yeah, okay. We should get a sound check and rehearsal on the schedule. I’ll have CR set that up.”

A loud ringtone breaks through the room.

“Sorry, excuse me. I have to take this. The venue is calling.” Flo hastily picks up her phone on her way to the hallway.

“That woman is a powerhouse, isn’t she?” Beca states admiringly after the soft _‘click’_ of Flo closing the door behind her.

Chloe presses her lips together and nods. “Definitely. I consider myself extremely lucky to have Flo to learn from. I could not begin to imagine doing half of what she did through her whole history here.”

“For sure." Beca nods, "She somehow manages her responsibilities to the label and still fits in time to be a major support for me. Through our years of working together, Flo has become someone I consider to be a close friend more so than a coworker.”

“Oh, ok. No big deal. Don’t worry about making me even more nervous about the fact that there are big shoes I am aware I have to fill.” Chloe's shoulder twitches into a shrug, and her eyes good-naturedly roll.

Laughing, Beca scratches the back of her neck. “Sorry, that was not my intention at all. I am confident you will do right by me, and I hope we can become good friends too.”

"Friends," Chloe tests the word on her tongue. "Do you think we’ll become really fast friends?"

"Well, you have kissed me a few times now." The smug wink Beca sends Chloe's way as she states that particular fact makes the redhead blush furiously.

"Um." Chloe drags her lower lip from under her teeth and squints her eyes, "I guess I never apologized about that. I tend to get overly touchy when I'm drunk." Chloe allows herself to physically cringe until Beca starts chuckling beside her.

"It's fine really. You turned a regular work gig into an enjoyable night out. I especially appreciated the bit when you started DJ'ing your–what did you call them– _lady jams_ for us in the car."

Chloe's face drops. "I did what?"

"Uh," Beca's brow furrows, and she lets her jaw hang. There is a hesitance as if she seems unsure whether she should continue, but she does anyway. "You asked to borrow my phone, so you could DJ songs on the way home from the restaurant. You told us they were your lady jams? You and Stacie were giggling and singing together." Chuckling, Beca shakes her head. "I don't think I have heard anyone passionately sing 'Love Me Harder' the way you did."

Chloe isn't entirely sure how to interpret that statement, nor did she want for Beca to further expand on it–she was still processing and attempting to contain her shock and horror. How Aubrey had failed to mention such crucial details of the night was another thing Chloe was working to register. With slight panic, Chloe wondered what else she was not remembering.

"You–uh–you have a really great voice, by the way.” Beca tilts her head and gives a vague wave of her hand, “If you ever want to try your hand at singing, I would love to get some studio time with you.”

Chloe snaps back to attention. “Sorry. What?”

“Your voice? You–,” Beca smiles fondly, “you have a beautiful voice.”

“Oh.” There is a delay between Chloe hearing the compliment and actually understanding what was said. “Thanks,” she eventually says; her tone lifting. “I think I have to credit all my years of collegiate acapella.” 

“Ah, that’s right. I forgot. You and Aubrey are acapella champions.” 

“Yep!” Chloe chirps proudly. “We’re pretty good with our mouths,” she winks.

Beca staring at her with raised brows and an entertained grin makes the realization of what she said hit Chloe like a speeding freight train. Chloe widens her eyes and waves her hands,“Wait–I meant to say we’re skilled orally. Oh my God–No. I’m sorry. That was definitely worse. Okay, what I am trying to say is our mouths make great music together. God! Nope, still bad. What is wrong with me? Anyway, I’m just going to stop talking now.” 

The loud laughter ricocheting off the walls only makes Chloe’s cheeks heat ferociously more than they already were. Having Beca take pure enjoyment from witnessing her sputter borderline inappropriate sexual innuendos was not how Chloe envisioned her day to go. 

“You’re such a nerd.” Beca says, still laughing. 

That doesn’t make Chloe feel any better. Framing her face with her hands, she pouts at Beca. “Can we pretend you didn’t hear a single bit of that?”

“Definitely not. That’s another memory I am marking up in my Chloe Beale book.”

“There’s a book?”

“Dude. Have you met you? In the minimal time we have known each other, I already associate you with so many golden moments; it’s almost unreal.” 

“I can’t tell whether that’s a compliment or my cue to begin digging myself a hole to crawl into.” Chloe scrunches her face.

The music producer chuckles beside Chloe. “Clearly a compliment. So you better not try and crawl into any holes. Now that I know you exist, you can’t starve me of your adorable nerd glory.”

Chloe’s lips spread into an easy smile, returning the one Beca was giving her. “I suppose I can stick around.” 

As Chloe sat there–head supported by her hands and gaze fixed on Beca–she felt warmth settle in her chest. There was something natural and comforting about sitting there exchanging pleasant smiles with the woman before her. And those eyes. Chloe was never going to get over their magnetic pull.

Before Chloe can further mentally dive into her appreciation of Beca, she is interrupted by the opening of the meeting room door. 

Flo was striding back into the room.

“I’m sorry that took so long. I actually have to meet the event planner at the venue. Her only availability for the week is the next hour. We still have to formalize the mapping and arrangement of the whole place.”

“No problem at all, Flo.” Beca was shaking off Flo’s apology and straightening in her chair. “Was there anything else we needed to discuss in regards to Alexandra’s album release party?

“We should have everything from our end figured out now. If either of you comes up with anything else, text, email or message me.”

“Will do.” 

“Ok, great. And don’t forget to go over the media management plan!” Flo calls over her shoulder as she bustles from the room, leaving Chloe and Beca behind again.

A hum sounds from the music producer beside her. Chloe turns with a squint to her eye and a furrow to her brow, because there is something vaguely familiar about the sound or the rhythm emitting from the brunette. She can’t quite pinpoint it, but her ears had become alert after the first note slipped from Beca.

“I have to break for a meeting with Jesse.” Beca says after stopping her humming. She is scrolling through her phone–likely checking up on messages she missed during their meeting. Her eyes glance up and connect with Chloe’s. “I’ll come grab you from your desk when I head to the studio?” 

“Okay.” Chloe nods and stands; she makes sure to swipe the folder pertaining to Beca from the table. “I’ll see you later.” 

\---

The atmosphere is lively around Chloe. She was standing amongst about a dozen or so other Barden Records’ employees observing the on-going ping pong match commanding the attention of everyone in the game room. 

Fat Amy and Benji were mid-match in an intense ping pong game. They were the finalists of the impromptu competition Emily had put together after the owner of the office’s favorite pizza spot around the block dropped off a $50 gift card to her restaurant. They were playing first to 30, and Benji was leading; the score 27-21. 

“Cherub boy, do you even eat pizza?” Fat Amy pants between her heaving breaths. Sweat is dripping down her forehead, and there is a flush to her cheeks and chest. Emily is standing beside her holding out a water bottle and towel. 

“Fat Amy, maybe you should take a break.” Emily says with concern as she dabs the towel around the Australian’s face.

The older woman tilts her head back and allows Emily to squeeze water into her mouth. After she gulps down her mouthful of water, she breathes deeply. “Can’t. I’m focused like a crocodile on a buffalo. You don’t interrupt that kind of concentration.” Fat Amy shakes off her arms and crouches with her paddle in hand at the ready. “Come on, Benji boy.”

On the sideline, Chloe cocks her head as she takes in the scene before her. “I would have never figured Fat Amy to be so good at ping pong.”

“That’s the thing with ping pong, as long as you have good hand-eye coordination, almost anyone can be good at it.” Aubrey says with a shrug. “I am surprised you haven’t picked the game up yet. Our yearly office tournament is coming up. Don’t you want to be in the running with everyone fighting for the title of office ping pong champion?”

“Bree, I have never played ping pong in my life.”

“I hadn’t either before I started working here. It’s surprisingly exhilarating. I even made it to the semi-finals last year.” 

“Really?” Chloe looks up at her best friend.

Aubrey just nods, her eyes not wavering from the match. 

“Hm. I do love a good competition.” 

“Yeah, and the prize is usually VIP tickets to a concert of your choice.” 

Chloe’s jaw drops. “Why wouldn’t you start off with that?” 

“You didn’t seem interested.” 

“Oh, I’m interested.” 

Aubrey hums.

“Damn it!” Fat Amy loudly exclaims, interrupting the two best friends from their side chatter. 

With the way people were applauding and patting a smiling Benji on the back as they trickled out of the room, Chloe figured he had won the competition. 

Meanwhile, Fat Amy stood at the end of the table; her palms pressed flat against its surface. She looked to be catching her breath. 

“Well well well. Fat Amy bites the dust.” 

Bumper is walking alongside the ping pong table; his hand brushing along its length. 

Fat Amy glares at him with narrowed eyes. “Can I help you, Bumpa?” 

“Oh, no. I am just enjoying the sight of how awesome-ly horrible you lost to sweet Benji.” 

“Yeah?” The Australian stands and crosses her arms. “I’d like to see you do betta.” 

“Me?” Bumper picks up Benji’s discarded paddle. He spins it and then throws it from one hand to the other. “It can’t have been that hard.” The white ping pong ball sitting near the net is gingerly plucked into Bumper’s fingers. After a single bounce of the ball atop the table, Bumper winds up. 

Chloe only hears the _‘smack’_ from the forceful connection of ball with paddle before Aubrey screams and ducks away beside her. She feels a flurry of air. A blur passes before her eyes. Everything stills.

It takes her a moment to come to, but when she does, Chloe blinks. Her vision begins to sharpen around the blur that had crossed her path. She discovers a clenched fist at the end of an outstretched arm. Her eyes trail the length of the body part to find the extended limb belongs to Beca. 

“Dude.” Beca throws the ping pong ball clutched in her hand–the one she just stopped from colliding with Chloe’s face–over at Bumper. “Don’t make me ban you from ping pong.”

The Digital Marketer flinches as the ball connects with his shoulder before landing on the table in quick, short bounces. “Right, yeah. Not for me anyway.” A _‘clatter’_ rings out through the game room after Bumper drops the paddle to the table.

Beca huffs and turns to look over her shoulder at Chloe. “I’m heading to the studio. Ready to go?” 

Chloe nods mutely. 

\---

Stepping past Beca, who was holding the heavy-looking wooden door open for her, Chloe tentatively walks into the studio room. Her first impression was how surprisingly organic the room filled with large technical equipment felt. Chloe lets her eyes travel around and take in the dark-toned wood panels, brown leather seating, and black studio equipment. There is something about each element and how they blend together that gives her the sense a lot of care was put into the design of this impressive space. Feeling almost unworthy, she stops to stand just short of the door.

In the middle of the room, behind the soundboard, and oblivious to Chloe and Beca’s presence sat Luke. He was bobbing along to whatever was playing through the headphones perched on his head.

 _“Is it you? It could be you. It could be you.”_ Chloe heard the blonde quietly sing to himself just before Beca spins his chair around and makes him jolt abruptly.

“Jesus, Beca.” he slides the headphones off his ears and places a hand to his chest. 

“I told you it’d be easy to kill you. You’re always sitting alone in here with headphones on and your back to the door.” 

“You’re one to talk.” 

“What do you mean? I always play the sound through the speakers when I’m by myself, and I sit facing the door.” 

“Yeah, yeah. I’ll catch you one day.” he says with narrowed eyes before taking note of Chloe. “Oh.” He sits upright, “Hello there.”

“Hi,” Chloe greets with a raise of her hand. 

“Did you book studio time with us?” the blonde questions, curious pinch to his face. 

“She’s my publicist, dude. We were at Club Run with her a few weeks ago. Did you forget?” 

“Uh,” Luke’s eyebrows press together as though he is scouring his memory. It takes a beat before his face considerably brightens. “Oh!” Luke exclaims a little loudly; his eyes widening at Beca. He whips his head back to Chloe and spreads his arms wide “Welcome to the entourage! Let me know if she’s ever being difficult with you. I can threaten her with releasing the video from last New Year's Eve.” 

“Dude. Not cool.” Beca says as she shoos the grinning Luke from the plush leather chair before plopping herself down. As the brunette begins fiddling with the controls in front of her, Chloe can’t help but notice how Beca looks like she fits right into the space. Luke was a man seated in a chair, but Beca was like a puzzle piece that slotted perfectly in.

“What video is this?” Chloe asks. Feeling less out of place, she takes a few more steps into the room until she stands a little behind Beca.

Luke chuckles. “Well–”

“Don’t.” 

At the sight of a warning finger, Luke looks at Chloe with raised eyebrows. He curls his lips and pulls an invisible zipper across his mouth.

Chloe giggles at the sight. 

“Which folder did you put the Borne remixes in?”

“Eh, should be that one,” Luke reaches over Beca to point.

“Nice. There they are.” Beca spins around in the chair. “You can take a seat on the couch, Chloe. Get comfortable.” she says, motioning her head in the direction of the sofa. Rolling back around, Beca situates herself once more in front of the soundboard.

“I’m going to play two versions of the same song. Let me know what you think, Chloe.” the DJ calls over her shoulder. 

There is a noticeable change in the air–like the room is coming to life–when the song plays through the speakers. 

Chloe almost immediately starts bouncing along to the song. Feeling self-conscious, she looks up to find Luke bobbing his head just like her. Except he is standing, concentration on his face, eyes trained on the ground.

For the next few minutes, no one says a word. Everyone is just listening.

After the second version finishes playing, Beca turns to face Chloe. “Okay acapella champ. What did you think? Which is the better of the two?” 

Chloe tilts her head and purses her lips. She tries to recall the differences she noticed while listening to both songs. 

“Well, with the first one, you had an obvious heavier beat.” Chloe nods her head slowly, still thinking, “And the song is upbeat already, but that one had me bobbing my head along like immediately. Like I could see myself dancing to it in the middle of the club. But for the second one,” she hums. “You emphasized the vocals and made them more lifted and airy. It was almost magical. I was hanging on to every word of the song, just riding along to her voice. I would dance to it in the club too, but I would be singing to it more than anything.”

“So,” the redhead taps her finger to her lips. “If I were Alexandra’s publicist, I would say the second one is better. It highlights Alexandra’s voice and is more true to the song. Since she is a new artist, showcasing her talent with a dash of your sound is a better gateway for introducing your fans to her.”

“But,” Chloe meets Beca’s gaze. “As your publicist, I have to say the first version is better. It is completely you and displays your skill in production of beats and arrangement of sound. People will barely even notice her voice or care for it, because what you created overpowers everything else. You envelope the listener with this great rhythm, and that’s all they hear and feel. Alexandra’s voice becomes an afterthought, just a nice touch.” 

The room falls silent after Chloe is done speaking. Even though Beca holds a fixed gaze on her, Chloe does not feel unsettled. 

“Wow,” Luke murmurs, breaking the silence. “I think I just fell in love with you.” 

Brows furrowed tightly together, Beca looks up at the blonde music producer. “Really?”

“What?” he says defensively, arms raised. “I think it’s hot when women can speak to music like that. Don’t you? It’s so much better than hearing ‘it’s catchy’.” Looking back at Chloe, Luke grins. “I know Aubrey shut down Stacie’s whole thing about taking you out on a date, but I sure would love to.”

Chloe laughs. “As flattered as I am, you’re not my type.” 

The blonde’s grin falters, and his chest deflates. “Damn. What is your type?” he asks.

With a playful wink, Chloe answers him with, “Someone who still remembers me after the club.”

Luke sighs and turns to Beca. “I really need to work on remembering faces and names better, huh?” 

Beca ignores him with a roll of her eyes as she turns back to the soundboard. “Mark the second version of this track for you and Benji to work on mastering later. When you guys are done, make sure to send the master edit to Alexandra.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What do you guys think of Professional Chloe?
> 
> Luke's Song:  
> Could Be You - Michael Calfan, Danny Dearden


End file.
